title: HER2 amplification and overexpression are significantly correlated in mucinous epithelial ovarian cancer.
abstract: HER2 gene amplification and protein over-expression are important factors in predicting clinical sensitivity to anti-HER2 therapies in breast, gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between HER2 gene copy numbers and HER2 protein expressions in mucinous epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Of the 49 tissue microarray samples of mucinous EOC, we applied 2010 ToGA trial (Trastuzumab for Gastric Cancer) surgical specimen scoring criteria to analyze the HER2 protein expression by an immunohistochemistry (IHC) test with Dako (Carpenteria, CA), c-erb-B2 antibody, and the HER2 gene amplification by the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) test with Abbott/Vysis PathVysion HER2 DNA Probe Kit (Abbott Molecular Inc., Des Plaines, IA). We achieved a high overall concordance of 97.56% between nonequivocal HER2 results by IHC and FISH tests. In addition, HER2 gene copies before chromosome-17 correction increased significantly in a stepwise order through the negative, equivocal and positive IHC result categories (P<.001), as did the HER2 gene copies after chromosome-17 correction (P<.001). On the other hand, HER2 IHC results correlated significantly with both chromosome-17-uncorrected HER2 gene copy numbers (ρ=0.630, P<.001) and chromosome-17 corrected HER2 gene copy numbers (ρ=0.558, P<.001). We concluded that both chromosome-17 corrected and uncorrected HER2 gene copies correlated significantly with HER2 IHC results. Tests for the HER2 gene copies per tumor cell either before or after correction of chromosome-17 can be applied as a potentially valuable tool to analyze the HER2 status in mucinous EOC.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicine, Chung-Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Pathology, Chung-Shan Medical University and Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wan-Ru
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Chao
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics and Informatics Science, Providence University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ming-Yung
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Chung-Shan Medical University and Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wea-Long
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chi-Kuan
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Therapy, Fu-Jen Catholic University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jau-Chen
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicine, Chung-Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Pathology, Tungs' Taichung MetroHarbor Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chiew-Loon
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Koo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicine, Chung-Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Gwo-Tarng
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Sheu
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, Chung-Shan Medical University and Chung-Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Chung-Shan Medical University and Chung-Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.. Electronic address: hanhaly@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Chih-Ping
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D002288:Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002886:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 17 / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification; D018628:Gene Dosage; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D018734:Genes, erbB-2 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis
chemical_list: D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human
keywords: HER2; Mucinous epithelial ovarian cancer; Polysomy-17