The relevance of EGFR overexpression for the prediction of the malignant transformation of oral leukoplakia

Ries,Jutta; Vairaktaris,Eleftherios; Agaimy,Abbas; Bechtold,Moritz; Gorecki,Patricia; Neukam,Friedrich  W.; Nkenke,Emeka

doi:10.3892/or.2013.2545

The relevance of EGFR overexpression for the prediction of the malignant transformation of oral leukoplakia

Authors:
- Jutta Ries
- Eleftherios Vairaktaris
- Abbas Agaimy
- Moritz Bechtold
- Patricia Gorecki
- Friedrich W. Neukam
- Emeka Nkenke
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Affiliations: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Erlangen University Hospital, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Athens, Athens, Greece, Institute of Pathology, Erlangen University Hospital, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
Published online on: June 19, 2013 https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2013.2545
Pages: 1149-1156

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Abstract

The present study evaluated the relevance of EGFR overexpression in prediction of malignant transformation of oral leukoplakia (OLP). The retrospective study comprised paraffin-embedded tissue samples of OLP that transformed into oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) (n=53) and tissue samples of OLP that did not transform into OSCC (n=45) during a follow-up period of 5 years. EGFR overexpression was assessed immunohistochemically. A significantly different expression rate of EGFR was determined between transformed and non-transformed OLP (p=0.017). A statistically significant increase of EGFR expression for low dysplasia lesions in group I compared to group II was proven (D0, p=0.013; D1, p=0.049). By calculation of ROC curve and determination of highest Youden index the optimal threshold value [cut-off point (COP) = 44.96] for distinguishing the transformed from non-transformed lesions was estimated (critical expression rate of EGFR). Using the determined COP the correlation between high-risk lesions and the detection of increased expression rates were significant (p=0.001). In the future, the assessment of EGFR overexpression in OLP may allow identifying OLP lesions with an increased risk of malignant transformation that may have been regarded harmless when only the grade of dysplasia had been taken into account.

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