HER-2/neu Marker Examination using Immunohistochemical Method in Patients Suffering from Gastric Adenocarcinoma

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Kourosh Movagharnejad 1
Majid Sharbatdaran 1
Shahryar Sheffaee 2
Mehrdad Kashifard 3
Sadegh Sedaghat 4
1 Department of Pathology, Rohani Hospital, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran
2 Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center (CMBRC), Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran
3 Department of Internal Medicine , Rohani Hospital, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran
4 Department of Hematology and Oncology, Rohani Hospital, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran
Abstract
Gastric adenocarcinoma is the second leading cause of death due to cancer in the world and in advanced stages
the prognosis is poor even with current therapies. Over-expression of HER-2/neu has been seen in several
cancers such as gastric cancer and its expression is associated with poor prognosis. The aim of this study is to
evaluate the over-expression of HER-2/neu in gastric biopsy samples of patients with gastric carcinoma
diagnosis; and to evaluate its probable relationship with clinical and pathological findings. The over-expression
of HER-2/neu was examined retrospectively by immunohistochemistry method in 60 paraffin embedded samples
collected in Babol, Iran, between 2010 and 2011. The over-expression of HER-2/neu has been observed in 6
patients (10%) and this over-expression was greater in the intestinal type of gastric adenocarcinoma than the
diffuse type (12% vs. 6%); however, no statistically significant correlation between HER-2/neu expression and
subtype, degree of differentiation, tumor type and age was observed. This over-expression was greater in
differentiated types than undifferentiated types (18% vs. 5%).
Keywords
HER-2/neu
gastric cancer
immunohistochemistry