title: c-erbB-2 gene amplification in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
abstract: Amplification of the c-erbB-2 gene has been associated with poor prognosis in different types of cancer. However, there are no data on the c-erbB-2 expression levels in nasopharyngeal cancer. In this study, amplification of the gene has been investigated in the tumor tissue of patients with nasopharyngeal cancer by competitive polymerase chain reaction c-erbB-2 amplification was observed in 43.3% of the patients. The increase in the gene copy number correlated with the T stage. No correlation was found with lymph node involvement, histologic grade, differentiation, presence of metastases, or age and sex. We conclude that c-erbB-2 amplification may contribute to the pathogenesis of nasopharyngeal cancer. Our report is the first study investigating the expression of the c-erbB-2 gene in nasopharyngeal cancer at the DNA level.
authors.affiliation: Oncology Institute, Istanbul University, Turkey.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yazici
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Altun
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alatli
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Dogan
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dalay
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification; D018734:Genes, erbB-2; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases