Human ovarian carcinomas: correlation of malignancy and survival with the expression of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGF-R) and EGF-like factors (EGF-F).

We have studied the concentration of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGF-R) in 115 different malignant ovarian tumors (101 ovarian carcinomas) and EGF-like factors (EGF-F) in tissue extracts of 63 different ovarian carcinomas and 20 non-malignant tissues. 36% of ovarian carcinomas are EGF-R positive. The calculated mean EGF-F level of 4.2 +/- 1.5 ng mg-1 (range: 0-15 ng mg-1) in ovarian carcinomas is significantly enhanced compared to 1.5 +/- 0.7 ng mg-1 (range: 0-4 ng mg-1) of non-malignant tissue extracts. The correlation between EGF-R positive as well as negative ovarian carcinomas and the results of a primary chemotherapy of advanced ovarian carcinomas (n = 92) revealed a significantly higher remission rate of EGF-R positive tumors (66%) compared to EGF-R negative cases (23%). 84% of tumors with progressive disease were EGF-R negative. The mean EGF-F levels were calculated for prognostic subgroups of ovarian carcinomas. Increased EGF-F levels are significantly associated with progressive disease compared to all patients or the remission group. 15/16 cases with EGF-F levels greater than 5 ng mg-1 showed progressive disease. The overall survival time of patients with tumor tissue EGF-F levels greater than 3.5 ng mg-1 was worse than that of patients with low EGF-F levels. Multivariate analysis showed that the EGF-F level was, after grading, the second most important factor for predicting overall survival.