Coexpression of receptor-tyrosine-kinases in gastric adenocarcinoma-a rationale for a molecular targeting strategy?

Figure 1 A: The IHC staining of healthy gastric mucosa for VEGFR1-3, PDGFR-α/β and EGFR1. While healthy gastric mucosa revealed a significant EGFR1 and an intermediate VEGFR2 expression in gastric epithelial cells, all other RTKs exhibited only faint to absent expression levels; B: The exemplary transcription profile of 10 gastric cancers and an immunohistochemical analyses of an adenocarcinoma specimen originating from one patient. While VEGFR1, VEGFR2, VEGFR3 and PDGFRα revealed a predominantly cytoplasmatic staining accompanied by an additional nuclear staining for VEGFR3, EGFR1 was almost exclusively restricted to the membrane of tumor cells. Stromal cells revealed expression of PDGFRα and PDGFRβ.