title: HER2 status in ovarian carcinomas: a multicenter GINECO study of 320 patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite a typically good response to first-line combination chemotherapy, the prognosis for patients with advanced ovarian cancer remains poor because of acquired chemoresistance. The use of targeted therapies such as trastuzumab may potentially improve outcomes for patients with ovarian cancer. HER2 overexpression/amplification has been reported in ovarian cancer, but the exact percentage of HER2-positive tumors varies widely in the literature. In this study, HER2 gene status was evaluated in a large, multicentric series of 320 patients with advanced ovarian cancer, including 243 patients enrolled in a multicenter prospective clinical trial of paclitaxel/carboplatin-based chemotherapy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The HER2 status of primary tumors and metastases was evaluated by both immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis of paraffin-embedded tissue on conventional slides. The prognostic impact of HER2 expression was analyzed. HER2 gene was overexpressed and amplified in 6.6% of analyzed tumors. Despite frequent intratumoral heterogeneity, no statistically significant difference was detected between primary tumors and corresponding metastases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results show that the decision algorithm usually used in breast cancer (IHC as a screening test, with equivocal results confirmed by FISH) is appropriate in ovarian cancer. In contrast to previous series, HER2-positive status did not influence outcome in the present study, possibly due to the fact that patients in our study received paclitaxel/carboplatin-based chemotherapy. This raises the question of whether HER2 status and paclitaxel sensitively are linked.
authors.affiliation: JE2492, Université Paris-Sud, IFR69, Villejuif, France.
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tuefferd
authors.forename: Jérôme
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Couturier
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Penault-Llorca
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vincent-Salomon
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Broët
authors.forename: Jean-Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Guastalla
authors.forename: Djelila
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Allouache
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Combe
authors.forename: Béatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pujade-Lauraine
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Camilleri-Broët
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016190:Carboplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D018734:Genes, erbB-2; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008875:Middle Aged; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000008:administration & dosage; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D016190:Carboplatin; D017239:Paclitaxel