High amplification of epiregulin (EREG) and amphireglin (AREG) in tumour tissues has been previously reported to be associated with better outcome in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients who were treated with anti-EGFR antibodies.
High EREG and AREG expression, and left-sided primary tumours are associated with superior efficacy of anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC), but a unifying explanation of these findings is lacking.
Patients (238 total) with first-line metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) were randomized to FOLFOX or FOLFIRI chemotherapy ± cetuximab. qRT-PCR analyses were conducted on tissues from 103 patients at baseline to measure gene expression levels of HER-related genes, including amphiregulin (AREG), betacellulin (BTC), NT5E (CD73), DUSP4, EGF, EGFR, epigen (EPGN), epiregulin (EREG), HBEGF, ERBB2 (HER2), ERBB3 (HER3), ERBB4 (HER4), PHLDA1, and TGFA.
We studied the EGFR pathway [EGFR, NRAS, BRAF, PIK3CA, phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), amphiregulin (AREG), and epiregulin (EREG)] in 105 patients with mCRC KRAS codon 12 wild type.
Our study indicated that high levels of HGF and EREG were associated with resistance to treatment with anti-EGFR antibodies in KRAS wild-type patients with mCRC.
Immunohistochemical analysis of four EGFR ligands (AR, HB-EGF, TGF-α, and EREG) might be a novel predictive biomarker and may help optimize patient selection for cetuximab and panitumumab therapy in patients with mCRC.
To investigate the predictive significance of KRAS, BRAF, PIK3CA mutational status, AREG- EREG mRNA expression, PTEN protein expression and skin rash in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients treated with cetuximab containing salvage chemotherapy.
Expression of epiregulin and amphiregulin and K-ras mutation status predict disease control in metastatic colorectal cancer patients treated with cetuximab.