P. Kohlberger et al., PROGNOSTIC VALUE OF IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICALLY DETECTED HER-2 NEU ONCOPROTEIN IN ENDOMETRIAL CANCER/, Cancer letters, 98(2), 1996, pp. 151-155
HER-2/neu (c-erbB-2) oncoprotein is a transmembrane glycoprotein and m
ay function as a growth factor receptor being involved in the regulati
on of cell growth and cell transformation. We performed an analysis of
100 patients with endometrial cancer stage FIGO I to IV using an immu
noperoxidase technique on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sam
ples in order to determine HER-2/neu oncoprotein expression. HER-2/neu
oncoprotein was expressed in the tumors of 21 patients (21%). Clinica
l stage, histologic stage, histologic grade and depth of invasion did
not correlate with HER-2/neu oncoprotein expression. We found HER-2/ne
u oncoprotein in all clinical stages and therefore it does not seem to
be a late event in the natural history of endometrial cancer. HER-2/n
eu oncoprotein expression was associated with poor overall survival (l
og-rank P-value 0.04).