Megha Chandna

Introduction. Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas encompass a broad range of cancers, which include locations in the mouth, sinus, nose, and throat. Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas have one of the greatest prevalence of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) overexpression of all solid tumors.¹ Higher expression of EGFR leads to greater chemotherapy resistance and higher metastases of the lymph nodes. ² DNA damage from the activation of EGFR causes dysplasia and carcinoma in situ in epithelial cells. ³ The importance of this field of research is to, potentially, lead to associations of EGFR levels with clinical stage and treatment response plans in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Methods. The expression levels of EGFR, cyclin D1 and KRAS in tissues of 46 patients with laryngocarcinoma and 20 patients with vocal cord polyps as the control group were determined using Super Vision immunohistochemical staining assay kits. The association between gene expression and sex, age, clinical stage of patients with laryngocarcinoma, and metastasis status following treatment were statistically analyzed using SPSS software version 16.0. Results. The expression rates of EGFR, cyclin D1 and KRAS were 71.7, 52.2 and 39.1%, respectively in laryngocarcinoma tissues, and 10.0, 5.0 and 10.0%, respectively in vocal cord polyps. The expression of these genes was also closely associated with the clinical stage, treatment response and prognosis of patients with laryngocarcinoma. Multivariate analysis of prognosis using the Cox regression model indicated that EGFR expression in laryngocarcinoma tissues and the clinical stage of patients with laryngocarcinoma were closely associated with patient prognosis. High expression of EGFR, cyclin D1 and KRAS facilitated the invasion and metastasis of laryngocarcinoma cells. Conclusions. Studies have found that the expression of EGFR in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma tissues is significantly increased, and the expression of EGFR is closely associated with the clinical stage, treatment response and prognosis, as well as the survival time of patients.⁴

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