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EGFR expression and copy number changes in low T ‐stage oral squamous cell carcinomas
Author(s) -
Rössle Matthias,
Weber Claudia S,
Züllig Lena,
Graf Nicole,
Jochum Wolfram,
Stöckli Sandro J,
Moch Holger,
Huber Gerhard F
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
histopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.626
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1365-2559
pISSN - 0309-0167
DOI - 10.1111/his.12175
Subject(s) - polysomy , immunohistochemistry , tissue microarray , fluorescence in situ hybridization , gene dosage , copy number variation , in situ hybridization , gene duplication , biology , cancer research , head and neck squamous cell carcinoma , head and neck cancer , concordance , pathology , cancer , medicine , gene expression , gene , biochemistry , genome , chromosome
Aims EGFR ‐directed therapies are used to treat patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma ( SCC ). As it is still unclear whether or not EGFR amplification represents an early or late event in head and neck SCC progression, we aimed to determine the frequency of abnormalities of EGFR protein and gene copy numbers in early oral SCC . Methods and results A tissue microarray of cancer tissue from 120 patients with pT 1/2 oral SCC was constructed. We investigated EGFR protein expression by immunohistochemistry. EGFR gene copy enumeration was performed using fluorescence in‐situ hybridization ( FISH ) and the novel automated silver in‐situ hybridization ( SISH ) technology. Of early oral SCC, 19.3% showed high, 57.1% moderate and 23.6% low EGFR expression. EGFR amplification/polysomy was identified in 8% and 9% of cases by FISH and SISH, respectively. EGFR – SISH had a high concordance with EGFR – FISH (kappa value = 1.0), and both methods showed high conformity with EGFR immunohistochemistry ( P = 0.001 and P = 0.006, respectively). No correlation was found of EGFR protein expression or gene amplification status with pT or pN stage. Conclusions Only a small subgroup of early oral SCC is characterized by EGFR amplification, which can be identified reliably using EGFR – SISH technology. This finding suggests that EGFR gene amplification mostly occurs in advanced stages of oral SCC .