Membranous Expression of Ectodomain Isoforms of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) Predicts Outcome after Chemoradiotherapy of Lymph Node Negative Cervical Cancer

We compared the prognostic significance of ectodomain isoforms of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which lack the tyrosine kinase (TK) domain, with that of the full length receptor and its autophosphorylation status in cervical cancers treated with conventional chemoradiotherapy. We further explored signaling pathways that were correlated with high expression of ectodomain isoforms by gene expression analysis of 110 of the tumors, and validated the results in an independent cohort of 41 tumors. Pathways associated with the expression of ectodomain isoforms were studied by gene expression analysis with Illumina beadarrays in 110 patients and validated in an independent cohort of 41 patients.