Phosphorylated Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Expression Is Associated With Clinicopathologic Parameters and Patient Survival in Mobile Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Phosphorylated epidermal growth factor receptor (pEGFR) activates several signaling pathways, resulting in tumor-promoting cellular activities, and has been implicated in malignant transformation and disease progression. The present study evaluated the clinical significance of pEGFR protein expression in mobile tongue squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The present cohort study included 48 patients with mobile tongue SCC. We evaluated whether pEGFR immunohistochemical protein expression is associated with clinical variables and patient outcome. Of the 48 patients included in the present cohort study, 25 were men and 23 were women. The median patient age was 60years (interquartile range 53 to 72). pEGFR protein expression was significantly increased in well-differentiated tumors compared with poorly differentiated tumors (P=.001). Elevated pEGFR protein expression was significantly more frequently observed in mobile tongue SCC cases with a well-defined tumor shape and an earlier disease stage (P= .010 and P=.019, respectively). Patients with mobile tongue SCC presenting with elevated pEGFR expression had longer overall and disease-free survival times compared with those with low pEGFR expression (P= .015 and P= .006, respectively; log-rank test). On multivariate analysis, pEGFR expression proved to be an independent prognostic factor of both overall and disease-free survival (P= .008 and P= .044, respectively; Cox regression analysis). The results of the present study support evidence that the pEGFR signaling pathway might be implicated in the malignant transformation of mobile tongue SCC. Additional studies are recommended to validate whether pEGFR could be used as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target in mobile tongue SCC.