P63 and EGFR as prognostic predictors in stage IIB radiation-treated cervical squamous cell carcinoma

The purpose of this study was to determine the relation between p63, p53-related gene, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and spontaneous apoptosis in relation to radiotherapy in patients with FIGO stage IIB cervical carcinoma, who had undergone radiation and concurrent chemotherapy, retrospectively.

Eighty-four patients with FIGO stage IIB squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the uterine cervix, who were treated with radiotherapy and concurrent chemotherapy between 1991 and 1996, were included in the present study. The clinicopathologic features, patterns of treatment failure, and survival data were compared with the expressions of p63 and EGFR, which were determined by immunohistochemistry and with apoptosis by TUNEL on tissue-arrayed slides. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine the prognostic factors that influence patient survival.

Overall the indices of the expressions of p63 and EGFR in stage IIB cervical carcinoma were 18.7 and 26.6%, respectively, and these were found to be correlated. EGFR expression was significantly associated with extrapelvic failure (P = 0.03), whereas p63 was associated with locoregional failure (P = 0.03). The spontaneous apoptotic index showed no prognostic value, but the immunoreactivities of p63 and EGFR were associated with a worse prognosis by both univariate (P = 0.01 and 0.04, respectively) and multivariate analysis (95% CI:2.0-4.4, RR:3.2 and 95% CI:4.9-8.7, RR:6.7, respectively).

The expression of p63 gene is associated with poor survival and locoregional failure, whereas EGFR expression was found to be a prognostic predictor of extrapelvic failure. Both molecules were found to be potent molecular risk factors in patients with FIGO stage IIB SCC of the uterine cervix, who had received radiotherapy and concurrent chemotherapy.