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Expression Levels and Clinical‐Pathological Correlations of HER2/neu in Primary and Metastatic Human Breast Cancer
Author(s) -
STEFANO ROSALBA,
AGOSTARA BIAGIO,
CALABRÒ MAURIZIO,
CAMPISI ILDEGARDA,
RAVAZZOLO BARBARA,
TRAINA ADELE,
MIELE MONICA,
CASTAGNETTA LUIGI
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1196/annals.1322.055
Subject(s) - her2/neu , medicine , breast cancer , pathological , immunohistochemistry , stage (stratigraphy) , estrogen receptor , estrogen , oncology , cancer , gynecology , disease , oncogene , gastroenterology , biology , cell cycle , paleontology
A bstract : In this retrospective study we assessed the expression of the HER2/neu oncogene product in a series of 574 consecutive breast cancer cases, all recruited at the Maurizio Ascoli Cancer Center of Civico Hospital, in Palermo, between January 1998 and June 2003. The HER2/neu expression was evaluated using immunohistochemistry and scored from 0 to +3 as per FDA recommendations. The HER2/neu expression levels were related to the clinical‐pathological features of the disease, including tumor size, nodal and menopausal status, estrogen and progesterone receptors, and hormonal or chemotherapeutic treatment. In 108 patients with a follow‐up period of 3 years or more, the HER2/neu expression was also related to their survival characteristics. A significant correlation ( P = 0.011 ) between HER2/neu +3 and estrogen receptor‐negative cases was observed in the 487 M0 patients. In addition, HER2/neu +3 cases were associated with a positive nodal status (57.4%), although this association was not quite significant ( P = 0.06 ). More importantly, follow‐up data revealed that, in the 91 M0 patients with an average follow‐up period of 37 months, the percentage of HER2/neu +3 patients who relapsed was remarkably greater (54.8%) than that observed for the HER2/neu +1/0 cases when combined (34.2%). Furthermore, the disease‐free interval (DFI) was 47 months in the HER2/neu +1/0 group, while it dropped to 45 months in c‐HER2/neu +3 cases. Although the limited number of cases does not allow us to draw any definitive conclusions, our data suggest that high expression levels of HER2/neu +3 are associated with an early relapse and a shorter disease‐free interval in M0 breast cancer patients.