Diverse effects of combined radiotherapy and EGFR inhibition with antibodies or TK inhibitors on local tumour control and correlation with EGFR gene expression

Both drugs prolonged growth time in most tumour models, but only application of cetuximab during irradiation significantly improved local tumour control in 3/5 tumour models. The significant correlation of this curative effect with the genetic EGFR expression measured by FISH will be further validated in preclinical and clinical studies.