title: Absence of amplification of HER-2/neu (c-erbB-2) gene in Ewing's sarcoma: a real-time polymerase chain reaction method.
abstract: Amplification and overexpression of the HER-2/neu (c-erbB-2) oncogene have been observed in many cancers and are associated with a poor prognosis particularly in breast cancer. The human epidermal growth factor (HER)-2 receptor has recently been implicated in Ewing's sarcoma tumor cell line growth and chemosensitivity. The present study evaluates the amplification of HER-2/neu gene in paraffin sections from 42 cases of Ewing's sarcoma by a real-time quantitative polymerase reaction method using LightCycler system (Roche diagnostics, GmbH Mannheim, Germany). The relative copy number of HER-2/neu versus beta-globin was calculated at the crossing point. The mean calculated copy number in these cases of Ewing's sarcoma and normal controls was 26.43 and 26.93, respectively. The p value was 0.215 (p<0.05). Our results demonstrated an absence of HER-2/neu oncogene amplification in Ewing's sarcomas, and we suggest that HER-2/neu is not a biologically or therapeutically important pathway in Ewing's sarcoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Gachon Medical School Gil Medical Center, Incheon, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Gou Young
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jae-Hoon
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Youn Wha
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Woon Won
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: K Krishnan
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Unni
authors.forename: Yong-Koo
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D001609:Beta-Globulins / Q000235:genetics; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D005784:Gene Amplification; D018734:Genes, erbB-2; D006801:Humans; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012512:Sarcoma, Ewing / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D001609:Beta-Globulins; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor