title: Overexpression of the oncogene c-erb B2 in primary ovarian cancer: evaluation of the prognostic value in a Cox proportional hazards multiple regression.
abstract: To date, there are no prognostic factors in ovarian cancer that adequately account for tumor biology and disease behavior. In recent years, some reports have described the prognostic significance of the amplification and overexpression of the oncogene c-erb B2 in various human cancers. Concerning ovarian cancer, this is still a matter of discussion. In the present study, tumor tissue of 275 patients treated for ovarian cancer at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the University of Göttingen between 1982 and 1992 was immunohistochemically analyzed for overexpression of c-erb B2-encoded transmembrane protein p185. In 19% (51 of 275 cases), p185 overexpression was detected. The percentage of p185-positive cases varied from 7 to 46% according to histological subtype. Correlation with tumor stage and the degree of histological differentiation was not observed. Patients with p185-positive tumors had a significantly worse prognosis (p = 0.001); median survival was 20 months compared with 33 months for p185-negative tumors. In the Cox proportional hazards regression, p185 overexpression was identified as an independent prognostically relevant factor. These results suggest that overexpression of oncogene c-erb B2 in ovarian cancer characterizes a group with unfavorable tumor biology and a significantly worse prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics, University of Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Meden
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Marx
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rath
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kron
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fattahi-Meibodi
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hinney
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kuhn
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schauer
mesh_terms: D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009857:Oncogenes; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D066246:ErbB Receptors; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases