Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. In this work, we aimed to identify molecular epidermal growth factor receptor EGFR tissue biomarkers in patients with ovarian cancer who were treated within the phase III randomized European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer-Gynaecological Cancer Group EORTC-GCG study comparing erlotinib with observation in patients with no evidence of disease progression after first-line platinum-based chemotherapy.
EGFR mutations occurred in only three patients. EGFR overexpression was detected in 93 of patients Fifty-eight of patients had positive pMAPK expression None of the investigated biomarkers correlated with responsiveness to erlotinib. It remains to be determined whether this association is purely prognostic or is also predictive. A major focus of cancer therapy research over the past decade has been in the targeting of cellular processes affecting cell proliferation, differentiation, growth, and survival.
One of the best studied among these is the epidermal growth factor receptor EGFR , given its dysregulation in the vast majority of human tumors of epithelial origin [ 1 ]. Both molecular strategies have been investigated in EOC Table 1.
Clinical trials reporting administration of anti-EGFR agents to patients with epithelial ovarian cancer. Although several clinical prognostic factors have been identified in EOC e. However, data have been conflicting, and its association with sensitivity to anti-EGFR therapies remains unclear [ 19 β 21 ]. Furthermore, epithelial-mesenchymal transition EMT , a key player in cancer progression and metastasis, which is characterized by a loss in expression of E-cadherin and a gain in vimentin expression, is associated with resistance to gefitinib and erlotinib in NSCLC [ 42 , 43 ].
However, Gordon et al. This finding led to the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer-Gynaecological Cancer Group EORTC-GCG trial, in which ovarian cancer patients with no evidence of disease progression following first-line platinum-based chemotherapy were treated with erlotinib as maintenance therapy.
