EGFR and its ligands epidermal growth factor (EGF), heparin-binding epidermal growth factor (HB-EGF), betacellulin (BTC), amphiregulin (AREG) and transforming growth factor α (TGF-α) have potential applications as prognostic or predictive serological biomarkers in cancer.
The objective of this study was to investigate the associations of FHC with risk of BTC in the Biliary Tract Cancers Pooling Project (BiTCaPP).<b>Methods:</b> We used Cox proportional hazards regressions models to estimate HRs and 95% confidence intervals for associations between FHC (any, first-degree, in female relative, in male relative, relative with gastrointestinal cancer, and relative with hormonally related cancer) and BTC risk by anatomic site within the biliary tract, adjusting for sex and race/ethnicity.