The prognostic value of invariant chain (Ii) and Her-2/neu expression in curatively resected colorectal cancer.
BACKGROUND
Current methods to predict outcome for patients with curatively resected colorectal cancer are not ideal. The combined use of molecular markers and clinicopathologic features may better identify patients who are at risk for recurrence. The Her-2/neu and invariant chain molecules may be important in cancer development and progression, but their usefulness as clinical predictors of outcome in colorectal cancer has not been well studied.


METHODS
We used immunohistochemistry to determine the expression of Her-2/neu, invariant chain, p27, and p53 in primary tumor samples from 156 patients with curatively resected stage I-III colorectal cancer. The association between expression and clinical outcomes was assessed by univariate and multivariate analysis.


RESULTS
Her-2/neu expression was detected in only 24% of cases, and high levels of invariant chain were detected in only 15%. Although patients whose tumors overexpressed Her-2/neu survived longer than those with non-overexpressing tumors, neither Her-2/neu nor invariant chain were independently associated with survival. Consistent with previous reports, high p27 expression was associated with improved outcome, whereas overexpression of p53 was associated with worse outcome.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study did not reveal a statistically significant association between Her-2/neu or invariant chain expression and clinical outcomes in patients with curatively resected colorectal cancer. However, the data suggest that Her-2/neu could be a favorable prognostic variable. Because of the low frequency of Her-2/neu expression, larger numbers of patients need to be studied for this question to be adequately answered.
Rossi
Humberto A
HA
Department of Medicine, UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.
Liu
Qin
Q
Banner
Barbara
B
Hsieh
Chung C
CC
Savas
Louis
L
Savarese
Diane
D
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000944:Antigens, Differentiation, B-Lymphocyte / Q000378:metabolism*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D015996:Survival Rate; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000378:metabolism
D000944:Antigens, Differentiation, B-Lymphocyte; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; C045084:invariant chain