# EGFR and cancer prognosis

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-egfr-gastric-eur-j-cancer-2001/  
OnCo record `paper-egfr-gastric-eur-j-cancer-2001` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Review on EGFR in Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer, in European Journal of Cancer (2001), one of the most cited Europe PMC records with EGFR in its title.

## Summary

Elevated levels of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a growth-factor-receptor tyrosine kinase, and/or its cognate ligands have been identified as a common component of multiple cancer types and appear to promote solid tumour growth. This article examines the relationship between EGFR expression and cancer prognosis based on literature compiled on PubMed between 1985 and September 2000. More than 200 studies were identified that analysed relapse-free-interval or survival data directly in relation to EGFR levels in over 20000 patients. Analysis of the data showed that 10 cancer types both express elevated levels of EGFR relative to normal tissues and have been studied in sufficient depth to allow sound judgements to be made concerning the association between EGFR and patient outlook. The EGFR was found to act as a strong prognostic indicator in head and neck, ovarian, cervical, bladder and oesophageal cancers. In these cancers, increased EGFR expression was associated with reduced recurrence-free or overall survival rates in 70% (52/74) of studies. In gastric, breast, endometrial and colorectal cancers, the EGFR provided more modest prognostic information, correlating to poor survival rates in 52% (13/25) of studies, while in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), EGFR expression only rarely (3/10 studies) related to patient outlook. However, it is likely that the true prognostic significance of the EGFR has been underestimated as the published studies only assessed total cellular EGFR levels, rather than the activated form of the receptor, and were not standardised with regard to patient populations or assay methods. Finally, it is important to stress that failure to detect a prognostic significance for EGFR in any one cancer type does not necessarily preclude patients from benefiting from anti-EGFR therapies.

Indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 11597399 (DOI 10.1016/s0959-8049(01)00231-3). Its title names EGFR and its text names Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer; PubMed types it as a review (Review). It was matched automatically to the idea "Attack extrachromosomal DNA, the engine of oncogene amplification" and no figure has been checked by an editor.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Tags: europepmc-ingest
- Journal: European Journal of Cancer
- Year: 2001
- DOI: 10.1016/s0959-8049(01)00231-3
- Authors: Nicholson RI, Gee JM, Harper ME
- What it means: One of the most cited reviews Europe PMC returns for EGFR in Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer, so it is a natural first reading for anyone weighing the idea it is linked from. The record was linked automatically by title and abstract; read the abstract above and the paper itself before relying on any figure.
- Caveats: Matched by EGFR in the title and Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer in the title or abstract of the Europe PMC record; the summary reproduces the record's abstract and no figure has been verified against the full paper.; A review summarises other studies; the primary reports it cites are the evidence.

## Sources

- Eur J Cancer 2001: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0959-8049(01)00231-3
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11597399/
- Europe PMC: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/11597399

## Connected records

- journals: [European Journal of Cancer](https://onco.cc/journals/european-journal-of-cancer/)
- ideas: [Attack extrachromosomal DNA, the engine of oncogene amplification](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-ecdna-targeting/)

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