Pan-cancer Comprehensive Analysis Identified EGFR as a Potential Biomarker for Multiple Tumor Types.

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) has been extensively studied for its critical role in the development and progression of various malignancies. In this comprehensive pan-cancer analysis, we investigated the potential of EGFR as a biomarker across multiple tumor types; a comprehensive analysis of EGFR gene mutation and copy number variation was conducted using cBioPortal and other tools. Utilizing multi-omics datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we analyzed EGFR's expression patterns, prognostic implications, genetic mutations, and molecular interactions in different cancers. Our findings revealed frequent dysregulation of EGFR in several tumor types, including lung cancers and glioblastoma multiforme. High EGFR expression was consistently associated with poor clinical outcomes, such as reduced overall survival, disease-free survival, and progression-free survival. Genetic alteration analysis indicated a high frequency of EGFR mutations and copy number variations, particularly in glioblastoma multiforme. Additionally, our study suggests a complex relationship between EGFR expression and cancer-associated fibroblast infiltration, which may contribute to an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. These findings underscore the clinical relevance of EGFR as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target, emphasizing the need for further research and the development of targeted therapies to enhance patient outcomes in cancers with EGFR alterations. The co-expression network of EGFR with genes and proteins involved in cell cycle regulation and mitotic control provided insights into the molecular mechanisms of oncogenesis.
Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics Approval: The article utilizes data from public databases; hence, it does not involve any in vivo experiments. Consent to Participate: All the authors agreed to participate in the study. Consent to Publish: All the authors agreed to publish the experimental study. Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
(© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)