Assessment of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) expression in human meningioma.

Authors

A Gabriella Wernicke, Department of Stich Radiation Oncology, Weill Cornell School of Medicine at Cornell University
Adam P Dicker, Department of Radiation Oncology, Kimmel Cancer Center, Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Michal Whiton, Department of Radiation Oncology, Kimmel Cancer Center, Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Jana Ivanidze, Department of Clinical Neuroimmunology, University of Munich, Germany
Terry Hyslop, Department of Biostatistics, Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Elizabeth H Hammond, Department of Pathology, LDS Hospital, University of Utah School of Medicine
Arie Perry, Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine
David W Andrews, Department of Neurosurgery, Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Lawrence Kenyon, Department of Pathology, Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-30-2010

Comments

This article has been peer reviewed and is published in Radiation Oncology 2010, 5(46). The published version is available at DOI: 10.1186/1748-717X-5-46 . BioMed Central Ltd.

Abstract

PURPOSE: This study explores whether meningioma expresses epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and determines if there is a correlation between the WHO grade of this tumor and the degree of EGFR expression.

METHODS: Following institutional review board approval, 113 meningioma specimens from 89 patients were chosen. Of these, 85 were used for final analysis. After a blinded review, immunohistochemical stains for EGFR were performed. Staining intensity (SI) was scored on a scale 0-3 (from no staining to strong staining). Staining percentage of immunoreactive cells (SP) was scored 1-5 (from the least to the maximum percent of the specimen staining). Immunohistochemical score (IHS) was calculated as the product of SI and SP.

RESULTS: Eighty-five samples of meningioma were classified in accordance with World Health Organization (WHO) criteria: benign 57/85 (67%), atypical 23/85 (27%), and malignant 5/85 (6%). The majority of samples demonstrated a moderate SI for EGFR. IHS for EGFR demonstrated a significant association between SI and histopathologic subtype. Also, there was a correlation between the SP and histopathologic subtype (p = 0.029). A significant association was determined when the benign and the atypical samples were compared to the malignant with respect to the SP (p = 0.009). While there was a range of the IHS for the benign and the atypical histologic subtypes, malignant tumors exhibited the lowest score and were statistically different from the benign and the atypical specimens (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this represents the largest series of meningioma samples analyzed for EGFR expression reported in the literature. EGFR expression is greatest in benign meningiomas and may serve a potential target for therapeutic intervention with selective EGFR inhibitors.

Recommended Citation

Wernicke, A Gabriella; Dicker, Adam P; Whiton, Michal; Ivanidze, Jana; Hyslop, Terry; Hammond, Elizabeth H; Perry, Arie; Andrews, David W; and Kenyon, Lawrence, "Assessment of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) expression in human meningioma." (2010). Kimmel Cancer Center Faculty Papers. Paper 7.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/kimmelccfp/7

PubMed ID

20509969