title: Immunohistochemical study on overexpression of c-erbB-2 protein in human breast cancer: its correlation with gene amplification and long-term survival of patients.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Pathology Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Tokyo.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsuda
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hirohashi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimosato
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hirota
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsugane
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shiraishi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Toyoshima
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Terada
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases