Epidermal growth factor receptor expression in carcinoma gallbladder: A prospective study in Indian scenario

Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is an aggressive disease with poor prognosis and complete surgical resection offering the only cure. Increased epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression has been noted in various cancers including GBC. Several studies across the world have examined the expression of EGFR in GBC. This study has been done to see the EGFR expression in GBC in Indian context.

Fifty cases of GBC were evaluated histopathologically using hematoxylin and eosin stained sections. Immunohistochemical assessment of EGFR expression was done, and scoring was done as per Kaufman et al. Data were collected, tabulated, and analyzed statistically by SPSS 16.0 version (Chicago, Inc., USA) software.

Of 50 cases, 44 revealed EGFR over-expression while 6 were negative. Of the 44 cases, 10 had weak EGFR immunostaining intensity (1+), 26 had moderate (2+), and 8 showed strong EGFR immunostaining (3+). We found that most of the cases showing weak EGFR immunostaining intensity (1+) were well-differentiated tumor (70%) and cases with a strong EGFR immunostaining intensity (3+) were poorly differentiated cases of adenocarcinoma (75%). Moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma showed moderate EGFR immunostaining intensity (2+) in most of the cases (53.8%).

EGFR is expressed in most of the cases of GBC. In well-differentiated adenocarcinoma, the EGFR expression is less compared to EGFR expression in poorly differentiated tumor, leading to the conclusion that the differentiation of the tumor and EGFR expression is inversely related. Thus, intensity of EGFR expression may correlate with aggressiveness of disease.