Ma. Nagai et al., C-ERBB-2 DNA AMPLIFICATION AND MESSENGER-RNA EXPRESSION IN HUMAN PRIMARY BREAST-TUMORS AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER PROGNOSTIC FACTORS, Cancer biotherapy, 8(1), 1993, pp. 29-35
In order to evaluate the involvement of cerbB-2 oncogene in the etiolo
gy and progression of breast cancer, DNA samples from 157 primary huma
n mammary carcinomas were subjected to Southern and dot blot analyses
for the presence of c-erbB-2 protooncogene alterations. None of 157 ca
rcinomas analyzed showed c-erbB-2 rearrangement. Amplification of the
c-erbB-2 was found in 28.6% (45/157) of the samples. Gene expression c
ould be analyzed in only 97 of these tumors. High levels of c-erbB-2 t
ranscripts were detected in 25.7% (25/97) of the tumor RNA preparation
s. Although there was a good correlation between c-erbB-2 overexpressi
on and gene amplification, a significant proportion of the tumors show
ed overexpression in the absence of gene amplification or gene amplifi
cation without overexpression. A significant correlation between c-erb
B-2 proto-oncogene alterations with the number of positive lymph nodes
and tumor necrosis was found, suggesting that c-erbB-2 genetic altera
tions have a biological importance in the etiology of breast cancer.