Dear Colleagues,

Through effects on cell-cycle progression, apoptosis, angiogenesis, and tumor-cell motility, EGFR is implicated in the development and progression of cancer. The overexpression of wild-type ErbB receptors is very common in a wide range of tumors and represents a common strategy of malignancies for activating pathways downstream of ErbB receptors, thereby promoting cell proliferation, survival, invasion, and metastasis.

The ErbB2 gene is frequently amplified and the protein overexpressed in several human epithelial malignancies, including breast, gastric, ovarian, and colorectal cancers. About 40% of primary glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cases and 5–10% of NSCLCs have a gene amplification of EGFR.  Moreover, the liquid biopsy test has been utilized to detect EGFR gene mutations, and it can help doctors to choose the right treatment for the right patient at the right time. In such tumors, gene amplification/overexpression has been linked to a poor overall outcome and a poorly differentiated phenotype. Liquid biopsy tests have earned limited approval in Europe, China, Japan, and the USA owing to several distinct advantages over tissue biopsies. There may also be advantages to a liquid biopsy that go beyond avoiding the risks and financial costs of a tumor biopsy. NSCLCs are amongst the cancer types with the highest rates of point mutations, harboring hundreds of mutations in their exome, and advanced cancers are highly heterogeneous. Tumor heterogeneity results from numerous genomic alterations, catastrophic events, and clonal evolution during division. Dividing cells in the tumor acquire new mutations, creating sub-clones that differ from their founder cells, so geographically separated regions in the same tumor will generally also be more genomically distinct. The seeding of varying sub-clones to other organs leads to further divergent evolution. In NSCLC, multi-region whole exome sequencing studies confirm that tumors show large spatial and temporal diversity in their mutational profiles

It has been reported that for tissue samples positive for the specific EGFR mutations, 76.7 percent of the corresponding plasma samples also showed positive results in the liquid biopsy test; in addition, for the tissue samples that were negative for the specific EGFR mutations, 98.2 percent of the corresponding plasma samples also showed negative results in the test.

With FDA approval and additional studies, scientists and oncologists are truly moving toward making cancer diagnosis and treatment monitoring a more efficient and convenient endeavor for cancer patients in the near future. Therefore, original research articles, review articles, and research letters covering the large field of EGFR application in human cancer are strongly invited.

Prof. Dr. Giovanni Tuccari
Prof. Dr. Pio Zeppa
Dr. Antonio Ieni
Guest Editors

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• Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR)
• HER2 (Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2)
• Metastases
• Prognosis