title: Clinicopathological and prognostic significance of HER-2/neu and VEGF expression in colon carcinomas.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  HER-2/neu and VEGF expression is correlated with disease behaviors in various cancers. However, evidence for their expression in colon cancer is rather contradictory both for the protein expression status and prognostic value. HER-2/neu is found to participate in VEGF regulation, and has known correlation with VEGF expression in some tumors. In this study, we investigated HER-2/neu and VEGF expression in Chinese colon patients and explored whether there was any correlation between their expression patterns.
  
  
  METHODS
  HER-2/neu and VEGF were investigated immunohistochemically using tumor samples obtained from 317 colon cancer patients with all tumor stages. Correlation of the degree of staining with clinicopathological parameters and survival was investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Positive expression rates of HER-2/neu and VEGF in colon cancer were 15.5% and 55.5% respectively. HER-2/neu expression was significantly correlated with tumor size and distant metastases (P < 0.05), but was not an independent prognostic marker of survival (P > 0.05). Expression of VEGF was significantly correlated with tumor size, tumor stage, lymph node metastases, and distant metastases (P < 0.05). The 5-year survival rate in patients with negative and positive VEGF expression was 70.2% and 61.9% respectively; the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.146). No correlation between HER-2/neu and VEGF expression was detected (P = 0.151).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HER-2/neu and VEGF are not important prognostic markers of colon cancer. The present results do not support any association between HER2/neu and VEGF expression in this setting.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, First Clinic Medical School of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Qingguo
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Daorong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000378:metabolism; D015588:Observer Variation; D011379:Prognosis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis*; D015996:Survival Rate; D047368:Tumor Burden; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; C467484:VEGFA protein, human; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human