Circulating Soluble EGFR Correlates with Tumor Burden and Hepatic Reserve but Lacks Independent Prognostic Value in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Prospective Turkish Cohort

Purpose

Serum soluble epidermal growth factor receptor (sEGFR) is a circulating extracellular-domain EGFR fragment that is biologically distinct from membrane-bound tissue EGFR, and its clinical meaning in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been defined. We evaluated whether baseline serum sEGFR is related to tumor burden and hepatic reserve, and whether it carries prognostic information independent of established clinical variables. Patients and methods: This prospective single-center cohort included 84 patients with HCC evaluated between November 2014 and May 2017. Baseline serum sEGFR was measured by ELISA. Overall survival (OS) was defined from baseline serum sample collection to death from any cause or last follow-up and was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier estimates, lg-rank testing, and Cox proportional hazards models with bootstrap internal validation. The incremental value of sEGFR over alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and MELD-Na was tested in a combined model.