Overexpression of c-erbB2 and its Relationship with Chemotherapy in Breast Ccancer.
10.4048/jkbcs.1998.1.1.103
- Author:
Ja Yun KOO
1
;
Hy De LEE
;
Woo Hee JUNG
Author Information
1. Department of General Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Korea.
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Primary breast cancer;
Adjuvant chemotherapy;
erbB2 overexpression
- MeSH:
Breast Neoplasms;
Breast*;
Chemotherapy, Adjuvant;
Cyclophosphamide;
Diagnosis;
Disease-Free Survival;
Drug Therapy*;
Epidermal Growth Factor;
Estrogens;
Fluorouracil;
Follow-Up Studies;
Humans;
Immunohistochemistry;
Methotrexate;
Prognosis;
Protein-Tyrosine Kinases;
Proto-Oncogenes;
Receptors, Progesterone
- From:Journal of Korean Breast Cancer Society
1998;1(1):103-108
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
Purpose c-erbB2 encodes 185 kDa oncoprotein tyrosine kinase activity and has homology to the epidermal growth factor. c-erbB2 proto-oncogene is found to be overexpressed in approximately 20 to 30 % of primary breast cancer and has been associated with poor prognosis and lower response to conventional chemotherapy. Materials and methods We performed a stedy on 40 infiltrating ductal breast cancer treated with primary surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy. We investigated c-erbB2 expression by immunohistochemistry in paraffin-embedded tissue using polyclonal antipeptide antibody (DAKO). We evaluated the relationships between its expression and the results after over 6 cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy including cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-FU. Results The median age at diagnosis was 43 years and the median follow-up time was 47.3 months. Thirteen (32.1%) of 40 patients showed the c-erbB2 overexpression in the external domains of protein. There were no correlations among c-erbB2 amplification and other prognostic factors such as hormonal receptors, histologic grade and tumor size. Estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor showed tendency of inverse correlation with c-erbB2 overexpression but it was not statistically significant (p>0.05). c-erbB2 positive patients showed shorter disease free survival compared to c-erbB2 negative patients in univariate analysis (p<0.05)(Kaplan Meire analysis). The patients without c-erbB2 overexpression seemed to survive longer but had no significant survival benefit (p>0.05). Conclusion These findings suggest that overexpression of c-erbB2 may be a marker of poor response to adjuvant chemotherapy with CMF regimen and may be an indicator of more aggressive therapy.
