title: Overexpression/amplification of HER-2/neu is uncommon in invasive carcinoma of the uterine cervix.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate HER-2/neu (c-erbB2) overexpression/amplification in carcinoma of the uterine cervix using immunohistochemistry and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) to assess whether anti-p185c-erbB2 therapy might have potential benefits in patients with advanced invasive cervical carcinoma. The authors used a protocol for p185c-erbB2 immunohistochemistry (clone CB11) that has been previously calibrated using FISH as the gold standard, showing a 98% accuracy rate in a large series of breast carcinomas. Immunolabeling for p185c-erbB2 was present in 24 of 82 (29%) of the tumors, but only 2 tumors (2%) with a labeling of more than 60% of the cells were considered positive for overexpression. FISH analysis did not find HER-2/neu gene amplification in these cases, although five other tumors showed weak and/or focal immunolabeling. There was no correlation between the presence of immunolabeling and age, histologic type, or clinical stage. Overexpression/amplification of HER-2/neu is uncommon in invasive cervical carcinoma, suggesting that there is little indication for using anti-p185c-erbB2 therapy in the treatment of these patients.
authors.affiliation: Département de pathologie, Institut Curie, Section Médicale, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rosty
authors.forename: Jérôme
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Couturier
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vincent-Salomon
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Genin
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fréneaux
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sigal-Zafrani
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sastre-Garau
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D015854:Up-Regulation; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases