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Serum epidermal growth factor is associated with prognosis and hormone receptor status in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer treated with first-line trastuzumab plus taxane chemotherapy

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Abstract

Purpose

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is a ligand for the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) shares common signal pathways and forms a heterodimer with EGFR. In this study, we investigated the clinical and pathologic implications of serum EGF levels in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

Methods

We analyzed serum EGF levels from baseline serum samples of consecutive patients with HER2-positive MBC who received first-line trastuzumab plus taxane chemotherapy and correlated them with treatment outcomes and pathologic features.

Results

A total of 50 women were analyzed. The median age was 47 years (range 27–72 years). Patients with high serum EGF levels (≥10.0 pg/mL) had significantly longer overall survival (47.0 months (95 % confidence interval (CI) 28.3–65.7 months) vs. 23.3 months (95 % CI 13.5–33.1 months); p = 0.009) with a tendency toward longer progression-free survival (p = 0.123). Serum EGF levels were not associated with hematologic or cardiac adverse events. Progesterone receptor-positive patients had significantly higher serum EGF levels than progesterone receptor-negative patients (24.3 pg/mL (range 9.5–69.0 pg/mL) vs. 12.3 pg/mL (range 0.0–59.5 pg/mL); p = 0.006).

Conclusions

Our data suggest that high serum EGF levels may be associated with good prognosis in patients with HER2-positive MBC receiving trastuzumab plus taxane chemotherapy. In addition, serum EGF levels were associated with progesterone receptor positivity.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants from the Seoul National University Hospital Research Fund (04-2009-0270); the Priority Research Centers Program (2009-0093820) and the Basic Science Research Program (2010-0022299) through the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology, Korea.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 101 Daehak-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 110-744, Korea

    Ji-Won Kim, Jee Hyun Kim, Seock-Ah Im, Kyung-Hun Lee, Jin-Soo Kim, Tae-Yong Kim, Sae-Won Han, Do-Youn Oh & Tae-You Kim

  2. Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

    Ji-Won Kim, Seock-Ah Im, Kyung-Hun Lee, Tae-Yong Kim, Sae-Won Han, Yoon Kyung Jeon, Do-Youn Oh, Tae-You Kim & In Ae Park

  3. Department of Pathology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

    Yoon Kyung Jeon & In Ae Park

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  1. Ji-Won Kim
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Correspondence to Seock-Ah Im.

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Kim, JW., Kim, J.H., Im, SA. et al. Serum epidermal growth factor is associated with prognosis and hormone receptor status in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer treated with first-line trastuzumab plus taxane chemotherapy. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 72, 1023–1029 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-013-2268-9

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