Supplementary Material for: Role of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Expression on Patient Survival in Pancreatic Cancer: A Meta-Analysis

Background/Aims: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) has
been considered as an attractive and potential therapeutic target of
pancreatic cancer. However, the clinical importance of EGFR expression
remains controversial. Methods: We performed a meta-analysis of
previous studies to quantitatively review the effects of EGFR expression
on survival in patients with pancreatic cancer. Results: Eight
studies (570 patients) were included to perform a meta-analysis of the
survival results. Overall, positivity for EGFR expression was 45.1% in
pancreatic carcinoma. The combined hazard ratio was 1.225 (95% CI
1.014–1.481; p = 0.035), indicating that EGFR expression has a
significant impact on survival. Heterogeneity was absent between studies
and publication bias, which suggests that the summary statistics
obtained may approximate the actual average. Three trials reported a
survival disadvantage for patients with EGFR expression while five
trials reported no statistically significant difference. Conclusion: EGFR expression is a poor prognostic factor for survival in patients with pancreatic cancer.