Overexpression/amplification of HER-2/neu is uncommon in hepatocellular carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent fatal cancers in the world. Despite advances in early diagnosis and improvements in surgical techniques, the survival of patients with HCC even after resection is poor because of the high incidence of recurrences. Therefore, the identification of prognostic factors may be helpful in the development of new treatment protocols.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate HER-2/neu status in HCC by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH), and to explore the possibility of using trastuzumab in the treatment of HCC.


METHODS
Eight hundred and sixty eight surgical samples from patients with primary HCC were examined for their HER-2/neu status. IHC for HER-2/neu was performed with the HercepTest kit; FISH analysis was performed with the PathVysion HER-2 DNA probe kit. The correlations between HER-2/neu overexpression and clinicopathological characteristics were analysed statistically.


RESULTS
HER-2/neu overexpression was detected in 21 (2.42%) of the 868 primary HCCs. Only one specimen showed HER-2/neu gene amplification by FISH. No significant associations were found between HER-2/neu overexpression and the clinicopathological parameters.


CONCLUSIONS
There is a low frequency of HER-2/neu overexpression/amplification in HCC. There appears to be no role for HER-2/neu as a prognostic marker and no benefit of anti-HER-2/neu trastuzumab treatment in patients with HCC.
Xian
Z-H
ZH
Department of Pathology, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200438, China.
Zhang
S-H
SH
Cong
W-M
WM
Wu
W-Q
WQ
Wu
M-C
MC
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D016588:Anticarcinogenic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification / Q000235:genetics; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics; D018734:Genes, erbB-2 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000068878:Trastuzumab
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D016588:Anticarcinogenic Agents; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D000068878:Trastuzumab