Study of HER2/neu status in Qatari women with breast carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
The study is aimed at determining the prevalence of HER2/neu overexpression in Qatari women with breast cancer and to assess the survival in patients with HER2/neu positive tumors.


METHODS
This is a retrospective study of clinical data of 70 Qatari female patients diagnosed with breast cancer during the period 1991 through to 2001, at Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar. We also performed a retrospective review of breast tissue sample for those patients using paraffin sections and applying immunohistochemistry staining-[Hercep test (DAKO Inc)] to determine the HER2/neu status.


RESULTS
Eighteen patients (26%) were HER2/neu positive (2+ and 3+) with a mean age at diagnosis of 49.3years, and 52 (74%) were negative (0 and 1+) with mean age at diagnosis of 46.6 years. Of the patients with positive HER2/neu, 5 (28%) had a relapse of the disease and 4 (22%) died of the disease during follow up. Of the patients with HER2/neu, negative test 9 (17%) had a relapse of the disease and 10 (19%) died of the disease. The median survival function at mean of covariates for HER2/neu positive patients was 26 months, and for HER2/NEU negative patients was 28 months.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of HER2/neu over expression in Qatari female with breast cancer in this study is 26%, but due to a small sample size it may not reflect really the prevalence. Patient with HER2/neu positive were older at diagnosis than patients with HER2/neu negative, also they had higher relapse rate and mortality. Median survival function was better for HER2/neu negative patients.
Rasul
Kakil I
KI
Department of Medicine Hematology/Oncology Section, PO Box 3050, Doha, Qatar. kakil@hmc.org.qa
Mohammaed
Kelta
K
Abdalla
Awidi S
AS
Chong-Lopez
Augustin
A
Ahmad
Mubarak A
MA
Al-Homsi
Mohammed U
MU
Al-Hassan
Asma M
AM
Al-Alosi
Ahmad S
AS
Bener
Abdulbari
A
Bener
Bener A
BA
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011780:Qatar / Q000453:epidemiology; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D016019:Survival Analysis
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases