OBJECTIVETyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) have been reported to be effective in the treatment of esophageal and esophagogastric junction cancers. The aim of this study was to detect the frequency of EGFR mutation and expression in Chinese patients with esophageal, esophagogastric junction and gastric cancers, and to clarify the value of EGFR mutation and expression in predicting the efficacy of TKI in the treatment of these tumors.

METHODSIn this study, 180 tumor samples with histologically confirmed esophageal cancer (39 cases), cancer of the esophagogastric junction (92 cases) and gastric cancer (49 cases) were collected. Twenty-nine different EGFR mutations in exons 18-21 were assessed by real-time PCR-optimized oligonucleotide probe method. EGFR protein expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 89 tumor samples.

RESULTSThe mutation analysis for EGFR (exons 18-21) showed no mutations in any of the hotspots of the gene in the 180 tumor samples analyzed. EGFR expression was negative in 12 tumor samples, 1+ in 31 tumor samples, 2+ in 24 tumor samples, and 3+ in 22 tumor samples. EGFR expression was 2+ or 3+ in 12 (92.3%) of the 13 esophageal squamous cell carcinomas, 29 (47.5%) of the 61 esophagogastric junction cancers, and 5 (33.3%) of the 15 gastric adenocarcinomas.

CONCLUSIONSOur results indicate that EGFR mutation in exons 18-21 is absent in the examined samples of esophageal, esophagogastric junction and gastric cancers. More studies are warranted to explore the predictive biological markers for the therapeutic response to EGFR TKI.