EGFR expression in invasive anal carcinoma.
Bibliographic record
Abstract
412 Background: Squamous cell anal carcinoma (SCAC) treatment remains unchanged since the institution of chemoradiation over 4 decades ago. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a protein often expressed in aggressive cancers and that is the target of the monoclonal antibody: cetuximab. Concurrent cetuximab and radiation has been particularly effective treating squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Like head and neck cancer, anal cancer is an epithelial tumor of the alimentary tract that is radioresponsive and is associated with HPV infection. The rarity of this cancer limits its evaluation for biological markers. This study set out to thoroughly characterize EGFR expression by immunohistochemistry in 101 invasive SCAC tissue samples. Methods: One hundred and one pretreatment paraffin embedded invasive SCAC biopsies, obtained from the Montreal area between 1999 and 2009, were tested for EGFR expression by immunohistochemistry. All samples were confirmed to harbor invasive anal carcinoma on H&E slide preparations. Corresponding cancerous areas were identified on paraffin tissue blocks and cut out for tissue microarray analysis. Samples were immunostained with an EGFR antibody (clone SPM 341) on the Discovery XT Autostainer (Ventana), and staining was assessed by light microscopy by two pathologists. A semiquantitative combination score combining staining intensity with the percent of cells staining gave a final score: just detectable or weak (1+); moderate (2+); strong/intense (3+). Results: Of 101 patient biopsies, 82 samples had sufficient material for interpretation. Of these samples, 72/82 (90%) stained positive for EGFR, while 41/82 (50%) samples displayed at least moderate to strong staining. Conclusions: This is the largest cohort of SCAC tissue samples tested to date for EGFR expression and it confirms that the vast majority of invasive SCAC overexpress EGFR. EGFR likely plays a role in anal cancer tumor-genesis and progression. Testing of EGFR inhibitors in this patient population is justified. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".