Epidermal growth factor receptor in undifferentiated carcinoma of the nasopharynx

Objectives. To determine the expression levels of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and its prognostic value in undifferentiated carcinoma (UC) of the nasopharynx. Study Design: A prospective study of 75 patients diagnosed with UC over a 4-year period in a tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods. Postnasal space biopsies were obtained and processed, and immunohistochemical staining was performed. The over-expression of EGFR was measured, and the expression levels were statistically analyzed with the clinical and pathologic variables. Disease-free and overall survival analyses were performed. Results. There were 62 (82.7%) specimens that showed over-expression of EGFR levels. Over-expression of EGFR correlated significantly only with primary tumor size (P = .007). Age, sex, positive smoking and family history, presence of nodal metastasis, distant metastasis, and Epstein-Barr virus serology titers were not significantly correlated with overexpression of EGFR. Both 54-month disease-free and 56-month overall survivals were not associated with EGFR over-expression. Conclusion. The frequency of over-expression of EGFR in UC is similar to other squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the head and neck region. Only primary tumor size is independently correlated with over-expression of EGFR. EGFR overexpression does not affect disease-free and overall survival.