Immunohistochemical study on overexpression of c-erbB-2 protein in human breast cancer: its correlation with gene amplification and long-term survival of patients.
Using a polyclonal antibody monospecific to the c-erbB-2 oncogene product, an immunohistochemical study on the expression of c-erbB-2 protein was performed in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections from 176 primary breast carcinomas in which amplification of the c-erbB-2 gene had been detected in 28 cases. Expression of the c-erbB-2 protein was detected in 44 cases (25%), being strongly positive in 27 (15%) and weakly positive in 17 (10%). All cases with amplification of c-erbB-2 showed positive staining of its protein. There were only four cases in which c-erbB-2 was strongly expressed without amplification of the gene. In the group showing strongly positive staining, both overall and disease-free survival were significantly poorer than in the remainder of the cases. Using Cox's regression model analysis, overexpression of c-erbB-2 protein was demonstrated to be an effective prognostic factor independent of nodal status or tumor size.
Tsuda
H
H
Pathology Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Tokyo.
Hirohashi
S
S
Shimosato
Y
Y
Tanaka
Y
Y
Hirota
T
T
Tsugane
S
S
Shiraishi
M
M
Toyoshima
K
K
Yamamoto
T
T
Terada
M
M
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification / Q000502:physiology; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000502:physiology; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011379:Prognosis; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases