Enzyme immunoassay of human epidermal growth factor receptor (hEGFR)

Overexpession of EGFR has been reported in a variety of human cancers and serves as a target for diagnosis and therapy. In the case of breast cancer, about 48% EGFR and have poor clinical prognosis. Besides the prognostic factors like tumor size, nodal status, histological grade etc., which are significant in the management of breast cancer, EGFR level might also serve as an additional parameter. Immunocytochemical assay has been extensively used to study the expression of EGFR in various cancers. We have generated a panel of monoclonal antibodies against human EGFR with a view to evaluate their application for the diagnosis and therapy of these cancers. In the present study, an EIA has been developed using 2 monoclonal antibodies against hEGFR designated as CIBCNSH3 as the capture antibody and CIBCRGC1 as the detector antibody. EGFR isolated from MDA MB 468, a human breast carcinoma cell line, with high expression of EGFR and purified by conA affinity chromatography and HPLC has been used to develop the EIA procedure. Sera samples of 150 healthy women donors, of 300 breast cancer patients with different histological types of malignancies and of various other types of cancers have been analyzed. The control women had a range for serum EGFR level of 7-162 fmol/ml, whereas the 300 breast cancer patients studied had a range of 126-1587 fmol/ml with a cut off value of 180 fmol/ml. It is interesting to note that 67.5% of breast cancer patients had elevated levels of circulating EGFR. These results might suggest that serum EGFR level can be used as prognostic marker for breast cancer. The serum EGFR level will be compared with disease free interval and patient survival.