title: A low percentage of HER-2 amplification whereas indicates poor prognosis in salivary carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma: a study of 140 cases.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) has been found in many malignant tumours including salivary malignancy. HER-2-targeted therapy has been applied in the treatment of HER-2-overexpressing carcinoma. The aim of this study was to determine the status of HER-2 in salivary invasive carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma (ICXPA) in a relatively large Chinese sample, which may provide HER-2-targeted therapy with profound support in the future.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We collected 140 ICXPAs and their related clinicopathological and follow-up data. All cases were examined for HER-2 expression by immunohistochemistry and gene amplification by fluorescence in situ hybridization, if necessary. The study showed that the ratio of HER-2 positivity was only 25% (35/140) in all cases, but the positive ratio in ICXPAs with luminal differentiation for malignant component (32/79, 40.5%) was much higher than that in cases with non-luminal differentiation (3/61, 4.9%). The overexpression of HER-2 was closely associated with gender, histological grade and N stage. HER-2-positive tumours conferred short overall survival time (P = 0.036) and short disease-specific survival time (P = 0.042) in patients, but HER-2 status was not an independent predictor of prognosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 amplification is significantly associated with cell differentiation of the malignant component in ICXPA and it implies an unfavourable prognosis. Although HER-2 positivity is not common in the tumour, HER-2-targeted therapy for those HER-2-positive patients is still worth expecting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yuhua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Chunye
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Lizhen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tian
mesh_terms: D008949:Adenoma, Pleomorphic / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D011379:Prognosis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012468:Salivary Gland Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human
keywords: 
  HER-2/neu
  ; carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma; differentiation; invasive; prognosis; therapy