Epidermal growth factor receptor immunoreactivity in cervical squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma and its correlation with tumor characteristic

Background: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women and occupies 15% of all cancers in women. The most common types of cervical cancer are squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) plays a role in cell differentiation, motility, invasion, and metastasis. Therefore, this study aims to prove the difference in EGFR immunoreactivity in squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix and to prove the association between EGFR immunoreactivity and the degree of tumor differentiation. Methods: This is a cross-sectional analytical observational study, using biopsy or surgery specimens from patients with squamous cell carcinoma and cervical adenocarcinoma, whose tissues were examined at the Anatomical Pathology Laboratory Universitas Udayana/ Prof. IGNG Ngoerah Hospital Denpasar. Histopathological diagnosis, determination of the type of malignancy, and the degree of differentiation were performed with Hematoxylin and Eosin (H & E) staining. EGFR expression was evaluated by immunohistochemical staining, and data analysis was conducted using a chi-square test. Results: There was a significant difference in EGFR expression between squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma (p = 0.026). Squamous cell carcinoma has a risk of prevalence of high EGFR expression of 2.5 times compared to adenocarcinoma. Low EGFR expression was found in 4 (80%) samples of low-grade squamous cell carcinoma, and high EGFR expression in 12 (80%) samples of high-grade squamous cell carcinoma. There was a significant difference in EGFR expression between low and high-grade squamous cell carcinoma (p = 0.015). There were low EGFR expression in 8 (100%) samples of low-grade adenocarcinoma and high EGFR expression in 5 (41.7%) samples of high-grade adenocarcinoma. There was no significant difference in EGFR expression between low and high-grade adenocarcinomas (p = 0.055). Conclusion: There was a significant difference in EGFR expression between squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma.