Immunohistochemical study of c-erbB-2 protein in colorectal cancer and the correlation with patient survival.
We related events in immunohistochemical studies on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded preparations of 146 colorectal cancer patients. One hundred (68.5%) revealed cytoplasmic staining and only 3 of the 100 showed membranous staining. Western blot analysis revealed proteins with molecular masses of 185 and 155 kD following immunohistochemical membranous and cytoplasmic staining, but only a 155-kD protein following cytoplasmic staining. Amplification of the c-erbB-2 gene was detected in 2 of 44 cases (4.5%). Cytoplasmic c-erbB-2 overexpression correlated with tumor size (p < 0.01), subserosal invasion (p < 0.05), liver metastasis (p < 0.01) and Dukes' classification. Overall survival rates and survival rates for Dukes'B patients were significantly lower in the group with cytoplasmic c-erbB-2 overexpression than in the group without cytoplasmic c-erbB-2 overexpression. Multivariate regression analysis showed cytoplasmic c-erbB-2 overexpression to be an independent prognostic factor for colorectal cancer. These results suggest that overexpression of cytoplasmic c-erbB-2 protein plays an important role in the progression of colorectal cancer and is considered to be an independent prognostic indicator of this lesion.
Osako
T
T
Department of Surgery I, Oita Medical University, Oita, Japan.
Miyahara
M
M
Uchino
S
S
Inomata
M
M
Kitano
S
S
Kobayashi
M
M
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015153:Blotting, Western; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification; D018734:Genes, erbB-2; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis* / Q000096:biosynthesis; D016019:Survival Analysis
D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases