Phosphorylated Epidermal Growth Factor receptor (pEGFR) expression is associated with clinicopathological parameters and patients survival in mobile tongue squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract Purpose Phosphorylated epidermal growth factor receptor (pEGFR) activates several signalling pathways, resulting in tumor-promoting cellular activities, being implicated in malignant transformation and disease progression. The present study aimed to evaluate the clinical significance of pEGFR protein expression in mobile tongue squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Methods This is a cohort study conducted on 48 mobile tongue SCC patients, which evaluated whether pEGFR immunohistochemical protein expression is associated with clinical variables and patients’ outcome. Results Of the total 48 patients that were included in this cohort study, 25 were male and 23 female. The median patients’ age was 60 years (IQR: 53-72 years). pEGFR protein expression was significantly increased in well differentiated tumors compared to poorly differentiated ones (p=0.001). Elevated pEGFR protein expression was significantly more frequently observed in mobile tongue SCC cases with well-defined tumor shape and earlier disease stage (p=0.010 and p=0.019, respectively). Mobile tongue SCC patients presenting elevated pEGFR expression showed longer overall and disease-free survival times compared to those with low pEGFR expression (log-rank test, p=0.015 and p=0.006, respectively). In multivariate analysis, pEGFR expression proved to be an independent prognostic factor of both overall and disease-free patients’ survival (Cox regression, p=0.008 and p=0.044, respectively). Conclusions The present study supported evidence that pEGFR signaling pathway may be implicated in the malignant transformation of mobile tongue SCC. Additional studies are recommended in order to validate whether pEGFR may be used as potential biomarker and therapeutic target in this type of neoplasia.