Combination of EGFR, HER-2/neu, and HER-3 is a stronger predictor for the outcome of oral squamous cell carcinoma than any individual family members.

In a series of 111 patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), we used immunohistochemistry to examine the expression levels of four epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family members (EGFR, HER-2/neu, HER-3, and HER-4). Expression of the EGFR members was not significantly associated with tumor size. However, their expressions (except for HER-4) were significantly associated with the presence of lymph node metastasis, and all of them were significantly associated with distant metastasis. We further examined the association between the expression levels of the EGFR members and the survival rates in 47 oral SCC patients whose detailed clinical follow-ups were available. The expression of all EGFR members was significantly associated with shortened patient survival, and the association was strongest for HER-2/neu. Furthermore, the combination of HER-2, HER-3, and EGFR but not HER-4 significantly improved the predicting power. The expression level of HER-2/neu was significantly correlated with that of EGFR or HER-3. Similar coexpression patterns were also observed in three oral SCC cell lines studied, but not in four other head and neck SCC cell lines. Taken together, these results indicated that expression levels of EGFR, HER-2/ neu, and HER-3 may help predict the outcome of patients with oral SCC.