[Biochemical and immunohistochemical detection of epidermal growth factor receptor in breast and ovarian tissue]

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) was assessed in 52 breast and 46 ovarian biopsies by the radio ligand binding assay and/or the immunoperoxidase technique. A direct comparison of the two methods was undertaken in 27 breast and 32 ovarian biopsies. The results of both methods correlated positively (r = 0.59) in malignant tumours (n = 34), but not in benign lesions (n = 16) nor in normal tissues (n = 9). The different results may be explained by the fact that different aspects were measured by the two methods, while the biochemical assay assessed the receptor binding capacity, the immunohistochemical method detected an EGFR epitope. Since the histochemical method allows the localization of EGFR positive cells and the biochemical assay gives a quantitative measure, both methods together give more information on the receptor situation. A comparison of the results of these methods used simultaneously, rather than alternating one method with another improves the degree of accuracy of evaluation.