The relationship of cerb B 2 expression with estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor and prognostic parameters in endometrial carcinomas

• Published in: Diagnostic pathology Vol. 5; no. 1; p. 13
• Main Authors: Gul, Aylin Ege, Keser, Sevinc Hallac, Barisik, Nagehan Ozdemir, Kandemir, Nilufer Onak, Cakir, Caglar, Sensu, Sibel, Karadayi, Nimet
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 18.02.2010; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Biomarkers, Tumor - analysis; Carcinoma, Endometrioid - chemistry; Carcinoma, Endometrioid - mortality; Carcinoma, Endometrioid - pathology; Carcinoma, Endometrioid - therapy; Chi-Square Distribution; Development and progression; Diagnostic immunohistochemistry; Endometrial cancer; Endometrial Neoplasms - chemistry; Endometrial Neoplasms - mortality; Endometrial Neoplasms - pathology; Endometrial Neoplasms - therapy; Estrogen; Female; Gene expression; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Lymphatic Metastasis; Methods; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Invasiveness; Neoplasm Staging; Physiological aspects; Progesterone; Prognosis; Receptor, ErbB-2 - analysis; Receptors; Receptors, Estrogen - analysis; Receptors, Progesterone - analysis; Survival Analysis; Survival Rate; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome; Turkey
• ISSN: 1746-1596; 1746-1596
• DOI: 10.1186/1746-1596-5-13

Endometrial carcinoma (EC) is the most common malignancy of the female genital tract. Gene alterations and overexpression of various oncogenes are important in tumor development. The human HER 2 neu (c-erbB-2) gene product is a transmembrane receptor with an intracellular tyrosine kinase that plays an important role in coordinating the endometrial growth factor receptor signaling network. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of c-erbB-2 in endometrial cancer, to study its correlation to established prognostic parameters and estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status. Immunohistochemical (IHC) analyses of ER, PR and c-erbB-2 were performed in 72 EC cases. We detected a positive staining with c erbB 2 in 18.1% of the cases and determined a statistically significant relation between c-erbB-2 and PR. We could not find a statistically significant relation between c-erbB-2 staining and ER. There was not a statistically significant difference between c-erbB-2 and histological grade. The highest level of c-erbB-2 was found in grade 2 cases. There was not any statistically significant relation between c-erbB-2 and menstrual status, myometrial invasion, lymph node status, stage and survival. Although our study provides additional evidence of the potential prognostic role of c-erbB-2, further prospective and controlled studies are required to validate their clinical usefulness.