Objective: To investigate the expression of epidermal growth factor (EGF), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and DNA index (DI) in laryngeal carcinoma, to analyse the correlation between these index and the biological characteristics of laryngeal carcinoma and their values of clinical prognosis.
Method: Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression of EGFR and PCNA in laryngeal cancer and normal tissue, and with MIPS-I image analysis system DNA contents of cancer cell were measured and made out DNA index.
Result: The positive rate of EGFR in laryngeal carcinoma was 54.8%, and it was negative in all 10 normal laryngeal mucosa specimens (P < 0.01). The expression of EGFR did not correlate with histological grading and 5-years survival rate (P > 0.05), The positive expression of PCNA and DNA contents in the laryngeal carcinoma were increased with the decrease of tumorous differentiation (P < 0.05). With the increasing of PCNA positive expression and DI, the prognosis of the patients were poorer (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: EGFR may be related to the process of carcinogenesis in laryngeal carcinoma and was used as an early biomarker identifying premalignant lesions which had the greatest risk of carcinogenesis. PCNA and DI were simultaneously detected can be used as the prediction of tumor malignancy and prognosis.