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Co‐expression of EGFR and MET has a synergistic effect on the prognosis of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma
Author(s) -
Yokokawa Misaki,
Morita Keiichi,
Oikawa Yu,
Kayamori Kou,
Sakamoto Kei,
Ikeda Tohru,
Harada Hiroyuki
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of oral pathology and medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.887
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1600-0714
pISSN - 0904-2512
DOI - 10.1111/jop.12977
Subject(s) - immunohistochemistry , medicine , epidermal growth factor receptor , basal cell , oncology , survival rate , cancer research , cancer
Background This study aimed to elucidate the correlation between gene amplification, protein expression of receptor tyrosine kinase, and prognosis of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and next‐generation sequencing data. Methods We evaluated data pertaining to 208 patients with OSCC using IHC for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and mesenchymal‐epithelial transition factor (MET). Results High expressions of EGFR and MET were detected in 60 and 41 patients, respectively. We evaluated the association of clinicopathological variables with high expressions of EGFR and/or MET. Distant metastasis was found in 9 of 41 patients (22.0%) and 6 of 15 patients (40.0%) with high expression of MET and high co‐expressions of EGFR and MET, respectively; statistically significant differences were detected in both high expression of MET ( P = .003) and high co‐expressions of EGFR and MET ( P = 3.41 × 10 −5 ). The cumulative 5‐year survival rate of patients with high and low expressions of EGFR or MET was approximately 65% and 85%, respectively. Conversely, among cases with high expressions of EGFR or MET, there was no additional decrease in the survival rate of patients harboring TP53 mutations. Moreover, the survival rate of patients with high co‐expression of both EGFR and MET was very poor (22.0%) ( P < 1.0 × 10 −9 ). Conclusion Our findings suggest that evaluation of protein expressions of EGFR and MET may facilitate prognostic assessment of patients with OSCC; in addition, patients with OSCC should be screened for enrollment in clinical trials of combination therapy with EGFR and MET inhibitors.