Clinicopathological significance of c-erbB-2 protein expression in human gastric carcinoma

✍ Scribed by Masahiro Tateishi; Tomohiro Toda; Yoshikazu Minamisono; Susumu Nagasaki

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 557 KB
• Volume: 49
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-4790
• DOI: 10.1002/jso.2930490402

✦ Synopsis

One hundred seventy-nine primary human gastric tumors not associated with early cancer or noncurative resection were examined immunohistochemically for the expression of c-erbB-2 protein. Positive staining, regarded as an indication of gene amplification, was evident in 22( 12%) of the tumors. Of various clinicopathological factors considered, a statistically significant difference in association with frequency of expression was noted only for histological differentiation, as follows: 39% positive staining in papillary, 17% in well differentiated, 5% in moderately differentiated, and 4% in undifferentiated adenocarcinomas (P > 0.01). The 5-year survival rates of patients with positive and negative c-erbB-2 staining were 57% and 59%, respectively. These findings indicate that, in the case of human gastric adenocarcinoma, expression of c-erbB-2 protein is correlated with tumor histological differentiation. Our results also suggest that the presence or absence of c-erbB-2 protein may not serve as a prognostic indicator, particularly in cases of adenocarcinoma of the stomach.