title: Clinical significance of Her-2/neu overexpression in uterine serous carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the clinico-pathologic characteristics and survival outcome associated with overexpression of Her-2/neu in patients with uterine serous carcinoma (USC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-five patients with a confirmed pathologic diagnosis of USC and available paraffin embedded tissue samples treated at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions from 1/1/1992 through 12/31/2000 were identified retrospectively. Her-2/neu expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry using HercepTest (DAKO). Clinical data were abstracted from medical records. Clinico-pathologic characteristics associated with Her-2/neu overexpression like staging, histology, lymph-vascular space involvement, and myometrial invasion were evaluated using logistic regression analysis and Fisher's exact test. Analyses of overall survival time were performed using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards regression models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twelve (48%) of the 25 USC cases demonstrated Her-2/neu overexpression. There was a significant difference in Her-2/neu overexpression and surgical staging (81.8% vs. 28.6%, P = 0.01). Survival analysis according to primary tumor characteristics revealed that overexpression of Her-2/neu was significantly associated with a worse survival outcome (HR = 6.58, 95%CI: 1.36-31.89, P = 0.02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Her-2/neu overexpression is associated with advanced surgical stage USC and poor survival outcome. These data may be useful in guiding the clinical management of patients with USC and have potential implications for the development of novel treatment strategies.
authors.affiliation: The Kelly Gynecologic Oncology Service, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, 600 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA. tdiazmo1@jhmi.edu
authors.forename: Teresa P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Díaz-Montes
authors.forename: Hongxiu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Ann E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Smith Sehdev
authors.forename: Mariana L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Zahurak
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Kurman
authors.forename: Deborah K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.forename: Robert E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Bristow
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D018284:Cystadenocarcinoma, Serous / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D015996:Survival Rate; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases