Abstract
Purpose
In our recent studies, we demonstrated that breast cancer treatment by anti-EGF-R antibody resulted in a significant therapeutic effect in vivo. Furthermore, we were able to elucidate histopathologic parameters with an impact on therapy success. The aim of this study was the evaluation of EGF-R and Her2/neu protein expression on a large series of primary breast cancer, to elucidate if anti-EGF-R antibody therapy is a new therapeutic option for patients who are Her2/neu negative and where, therefore, anti-Her2/neu antibody treatment is not applicable.
Methods
We analyzed EGF-R and Her2/neu protein expression of 149 consecutive primary breast cancer specimens by fully quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. For evaluation of stochastic independence, we used χ2-test as goodness-of-fit test.
Results
We found EGF-R and Her2/neu expression as stochastically independent in primary breast cancer.
Conclusions
Anti-EGF-R antibody treatment is a potential therapeutic option for patients with Her2/neu negative breast cancer.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Immundiagnostik (Bensheim, Germany) and "Heinrich und Erna Schaufler Stiftung". We thank Ekaterini Kourtis for excellent technical assistance.
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C. Solbach and M. Roller contributed equally to this work
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Solbach, C., Roller, M., Budischewski, K. et al. EGF-R and Her2/neu overexpressing tumors: independent collectives for treatment of breast cancer by specific monoclonal antibody-therapy. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 129, 250–251 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-003-0421-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-003-0421-2