Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Expression by Immunohistochemistry and its Relation with the Stage, Grade and Tumour Budding Score in Colorectal Carcinoma Cases: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Adenocarcinoma of the colon is the most common malignancy of the Gastrointestinal (GI) tract and a major cause of mortality and morbidity all over the world. Identification of molecular markers associated with carcinogenesis, tumour growth, invasion, and metastasis is essential for developing potential therapeutic management strategies. The Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) is one of the most important genes involved in this carcinogenesis pathway. Aim: To estimate the magnitude of EGFR expression by Immunohistochemistry (IHC), in which the immunospecific tumour cells show membranous positivity for EGFR and are scored accordingly under light microscopy. Materials and Methods: This was an Institution/hospitalbased a single-centred cross-sectional observational study of 29 cases of colon carcinoma. These cases had undergone colectomy operation over 1 year and 6 months from December 2022 to May 2024 at Department of Pathology and Department of General Surgery, Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital, Berhampore, West Bengal, India. Histopathological examination was conducted under a light microscope to confirm the final diagnosis. The scoring system was used to evaluation of EGFR immunostaining. Association between EGFR expression with stage, grade, and tumour budding score was established by the Chi-square test. Values were considered significant at p