Expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor in squamous carcinoma cell lines of the larynx and hypopharynx.

Characterization of the EGF-R has been carried out on five squamous carcinoma cell lines of the head and neck region (FaDu, HLaC-78, HLaC-79, UM-SCC-17A and 17-B). The results have been compared with those from a spontaneously immortalized aneuploid human keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT) and cultured fresh skin keratinocytes. A monoclonal antibody directed against the external region of the EGF-R was used for APAAP-immunostaining and flow cytometric analysis. We observed an important heterogeneity in the EGF-R expression of the different cell lines. The highest overexpression of the EGF-R was found on the cell line UM-SSC-17A. The results of our flow cytometric studies confirm and extend previous studies in which either radioimmunoassay of tissue extracts or immunocytochemistry of tissue sections showed an altered expression in head and neck squamous carcinoma. The cell line UM-SSC-17A seems to be most useful in elucidating the role of the EGF-R expression in the behaviour of head and neck epidermoid malignancies.