Expression Of EGFR And Its Correlation With Pituitary Adenoma

Objective:To detect the preoperative serum level of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in the pituitary adenoma, explore their relationship with clinical pathology, proliferation and invasivenss,provide theoretical basis and clinical guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of pituitary adenoma.Methods:Elisa was used to determine the levels of EGFR in preoperative serum from65 patients with pituitary adenomas,15 healthy blood donors were used as control.Results:1.The level of serum EGFR of pituitary adenomas were significantly higher than the level in healthy control group ((11.26±0.87)ng/ml,p<0.05).The level of serum EGFR was significantly higher in invasive pituitary adenomas((11.58±0.72)ng/ml) than in non—invasive ones((11.44±0.68)ng/ml,p<0.05).2.The level of serum EGFR was(11.36±0.17)ng/ml in patients with pituitary microadenoma, (11.45±0.69)ng/ml in patients with pituitary macroadenoma and (11.67±0.62)ng/ml in patients with pituitary gaint adenoma. The levels of serum EGFR in patients with different kinds of pituitary adenoma were significantly higher than the level in healthy control group((11.26±0.87)ng/ml,p<0.05).The serum level of EGFR was positively correlated to the size of pituitary adenoma.Furthermore,significant difference in the level of serum EGFR was observed among patients with different kinds of pituitary adenoma(P<0.05).3.The levels of serum EGFR in patients with function (PRL,GH,TSH,ACTH,FSH) and non-function adenoma were significantly higher than the level in healthy control group((11.26±0.87)ng/ml,p<0.05)).But no significant difference in the level of serum EGFR was observed between function and non-function adenoma.Conclusions:EGFR level in preoperative serum of patient with pituitary adenoma reflemes the proliferative status of pituitary adenoma.The level of EGFR can be useful marker in determining invasive behavior of pituitary adenomas.