EXPRESSION OF HER-2 NEU ONCOPROTEIN, DNA-PLOIDY AND S-PHASE FRACTION IN ADVANCED OVARIAN-CANCER

The immunohistochemical expression of HER-2/neu and cytofluorimetric d ata were retrospectively analyzed in a group of primary advanced ovari an cancers. Thirty-three out of 94 (35%) cases showed a specific p185/ neu immunoreaction. No correlation between p185/neu expression and any of the clinico-pathologic parameters examined was observed. As far as cytofluorimetric data are concerned, 38 out of 69 (55%) of the tumors were diploid (DNA index = 1) while 31 (45%) were aneuploid (DNA index from 1.10 to 2.50 with a median value of 1.50). Ovarian tumors were d efined as of low and high S-phase fraction in 68% and 32% of the cases , respectively. Tumor ploidy and S-phase fraction did not correlate wi th the clinico-pathologic characteristics or p185/neu oncoprotein expr ession. Aneuploid tumors had a higher S-phase fraction (mean: 15.81 +/ - 13.44) than diploid tumors (mean: 8.89 +/- 7.98) (P < 0.01). p185/ne u expression failed to affect significantly both overall and progressi on free survival. On the other hand tumor ploidy was found to be relat ed to the prognosis of advanced ovarian cancer patients although the d ifference was not statistically significant. As far as progression fre e survival is concerned, the median time to recurrence was not reached for diploid cases whereas it was 21 months for aneuploid cases (P < 0 .05). The 5-year survival for patients with a low S-phase fraction (58 %) was significantly higher than for patients with high S-phase fracti on tumors (28%) (P < 0.01). Median time to recurrence was 48 and 17 mo nths for low and high S-phase fraction tumor patients, respectively (P < 0.05). However, in a multivariate analysis both tumor ploidy and S- phase fraction did not retain their prognostic value. The assessment o f the role of the parameters examined in improving the prognostic char acterization of ovarian cancer patients should be investigated in larg e multicenter clinical trials.