Elevated epidermal growth factor receptor levels in Barrett’s esophagus

• Authors: DEISSOVÁ Tereza; IZAKOVIČOVÁ HOLLÁ Lydie; ZÁKOSTELSKÁ JIRÁSKOVÁ Zuzana; DOLINA Jiří; KROUPA Radek; KUNOVSKÝ Lumír; PAVLOVSKÝ Zdeněk; LIPOVÝ Břetislav; DANĚK Zdeněk; KALA Zdeněk; SLABÝ Ondřej; URBAN Ondřej; NAVRÁTIL Vít; HARUŠTIAK Tomáš; LISCHKE Robert; BOŘILOVÁ LINHARTOVÁ Petra
• Year of publication: 2021
• Type: Conference abstract
• MU Faculty or unit: Faculty of Medicine
• Description: Introduction: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) can manifest through various symptoms including mucosal damage, in which case we speak of reflux esophagitis (RE), Barrett’s esophagus (BE) or esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). The epidermal growth factor (EGF) and its receptor (EGFR) is pivotal in the maintenance of the integrity of the esophageal mucosa and repair of injured tissues. On the other hand, upregulation of the EGF signaling pathway has been shown to lead to neoplastic transformation; in addition, EGFR expression was also associated with GERD progression.1-8 Aims & methods: The aim of our study was to compare the expression of EGF and EGFR in the esophageal tissues with vs. without pathological changes in GERD patients. The EGF and EGFR mRNA expressions were analyzed by reverse transcription qPCR in 50 fresh esophageal tissue biopsies with/without pathological changes taken from 25 patients with GERD (RE [N=10], BE [N=8], EAC [N=7]). In addition, the EGFR protein expression was examined in 50 corresponding formalin-fixed paraffin esophageal tissues using immunohistochemistry. The mRNA and protein expressions were statistically evaluated using the Wilcoxon signed ranked test in Statistica v13.2. Results: No differences in the EGF or EGFR mRNA expressions in the esophageal tissues with and without pathological changes were detected in neither of the patient groups (p>0.05). However, the EGFR protein levels in BE biopsies were higher than in corresponding samples without metaplastic changes.(p=0.034). Conclusion: Although the study is limited by the small number of patients, our results suggest that EGFR may possibly serve as a biomarker of BE development. This is the first study comparing EGF and its receptor expressions in multiple sites of the esophagus in the same patient with GERD.

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