Measurement of occupied and non-occupied epidermal growth factor receptor sites in 216 human breast cancer biopsies

The epidermal growth factor (EGF) is one of several growth factors involved in normal breast epithelial development and tumor proliferation. EGF and EGF-like peptide TGFα bind and activate the same membrane receptor protein. This receptor (EGF-R) has been recently studied in breast tumor biopsies and its detectability reported as a prognostic indicator.