EGFR expression as a predictive marker in esophageal squamous cell cancer:Review article

Esophageal cancer(EC)is a highly aggressive disease and 8thleading cause of death worldwide.Squamous cell cancer is the main histological type in China.Recent improvements in both surgical techniques and adjuvant/neoadjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy approaches have increased the survival of patients with the locoregional disease.However,most of the patients with EC have advanced disease either at diagnosis or at follow-up.Despite recent advances in the treatment,these patients still do poorly.Over expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor in esophageal cancer is associated with poor prognosis.However,very few researches have examined the role of epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR)in prediction and therapeutic sensitivity to esophageal squamous cell cancer(ESCC).If pretherapeutic identification of esophageal squamous cell cancer which does not respond to chemoradiotherapy(CRT)can be done,it will help to improve the outcome of patients by selecting responders to treatment.In this review we describe the predictive significance of EGFR expression in ESCC.

Esophageal cancer（ EC ） is a highly aggressive disease and 8＇h leading cause of death worldwide. Squamous cell cancer is the main histological type in China. Recent improvements in both surgical techniques and adju- vant/neoadjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy approaches have increased the survival of patients with the loco- regional disease. However, most of the patients with EC have advanced disease either at diagnosis or at follow-up. Despite recent advances in the treatment, these patients still do poorly. Over expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor in esophageal the role of epidermal growth cancer is associated with poor prognosis. However, very few researches have examined factor receptor（EGFR） in prediction and therapeutic sensitivity to esophageal squamous cell cancer（ESCC）. If pretherapeutic identification of esophageal squamous cell cancer which does not re- spond to chemoradiotherapy （CRT） can be done, it will help to improve the outcome of patients by selecting responders to treatment. In this review we describe the predictive significance of EGFR expression in ESCC.