Overexpression of her-2 associated with the progression of esophageal cancer patients.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to test the expression level of her-2 in the tissue of esophageal cancer, and the relationship with the clinicopathologic characteristics of the patients with esophageal cancer, and the influence to the prognosis.


METHODS
We assessed her-2 in esophageal cancer tissues obtained from 72 patients' immunohistochemistry. The data were analyzed by SPSS software with chi2 test, Kaplan-Meier survival curves, Log-Rank test and Cox regression analysis. Data was expressed as mean +/- SD. A two-tailed p value of 0.05 was considered significant.


RESULTS
Twenty (27.8%) were found to have her-2 overexpression in esophageal cancer tissues, while normal esophageal tissues were negative. The expression of her-2 protein in esophageal cancer tissues is higher than those in adjacent normal esophageal tissues. The expression of her-2 is closely related to differentiation degree, infiltration depth, lymph nodes' metastasis and pTNM stage of the esophageal cancer. The 5-year survival rate of patients with her-2 overexpression is significantly lower than the patients with non-overexpression (5.0% vs. 36.5%, log-rank test, chi2 = 31.936, p = 0.000). Besides the influence of differentiation degree, infiltration depth, lymph node metastasis and pTNM stage to the prognosis, the level of her-2 expression is also an independent prognostic factor in esophageal cancer patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Her-2 might become a potential molecular marker of diagnosis and new targets of clinical treatment of esophageal cancer.
Gongchao
G
Wang
Wenwen
W
Zhang
Wenjing
W
Jiang
Linlin
L
Luan
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary / Q000628:therapy; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D001706:Biopsy; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary / Q000628:therapy; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D015854:Up-Regulation
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human