BACKGROUND/AIMS: The HER-2/neu protein is involved in normal cell proliferation and tissue growth because it is extensively homologous and related to epidermal growth factor receptor. As a prognostic marker, HER-2/neu is used to forecast the clinical course and poor outcome in breast cancer. As a predictive marker, HER-2/neu is used to predict the therapeutic response to adjuvant chemotherapy and endocrine therapy in breast cancer. In this study, we investigated the relationships between clinical and pathologic characteristics of tumor and prognosis according to the HER-2/neu expression in colon cancer. This study was conducted for the future introduction of Herceptin(r) therapy for colon cancer patients. METHODS: Overexpression of HER-2/neu was examined by semiquantitative standardized immunohistochemical staining kit in 88 patients with colon cancer. The patients underwent curative surgery at the Kangbuk Samsung Hospital. RESULTS: Overexpression of HER-2/neu was detected in 11 (12.5%) of 88 patients. Tumors with positive HER-2/neu staining showed a tendency for higher rates of nodal metastasis and poor mean survival (1,646 +/- 269 vs 2,631 +/- 141 days) and 5-year survival (65.5% vs 78.9%). CONCLUSIONS: Tumors with positive HER-2/neu staining showed a tendency for higher rates for nodal metastasis and poor clinical survival rate.
Aged ; Colonic Neoplasms/chemistry/mortality/*pathology/surgery ; English Abstract ; Female ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Receptor, erbB-2/*analysis ; Tumor Markers, Biological/analysis

A total of 471 cases of colonic adenocarcinomas and 28 cases of colonic adenomas were examined immunohistochemically to evaluate the expression of p53 protein in the light of their relationship with various prognostic factors. A monoclonal antibody, p53 DO-7, was used in the study. Two hundred and fourteen adenocarcinomas (45.5%) showed positive staining for p53, however only three of the adenomas (10.3%) were positive (P < 0.05). p53 was stained to neoplastic nuclei. Adjacent normal mucosal cells were negative. There were no significant correlations between p53 expression and prognostic parameters such as age, sex, gross configuration, modified Astler-Coller stages, microscopic tumor growth patterns, tumor depth, tumor size and lymph node involvements. However, left sided adenocarcinomas (49.3%) expressed p53 more often than right sided adenocarcinomas (35.6%) (P = 0.01). The positive rates were different according to the histologic differentiation; 45.2% in well differentiated, 51.3% in moderately well differentiated, 23.8% in poorly differentiated, and 26.5% in mucinous carcinomas (P = 0.011). The mean survival periods of the p53 positive and negative groups were 29 months and 32 months, respectively (P = 0.385). However, overall survival for patients with grade one and two positive p53 was better than those of grade three and four positive cases (P = 0.028). In conclusion, the result of this multivariate analysis suggests that immunohistochemically strong p53 protein expression (more than 30% of tumor cells) has value in estimating a prognosis for patients with colorectal adenocarcinomas.
Adenocarcinoma/*chemistry ; Adenoma/*chemistry ; Adult ; Colonic Neoplasms/*chemistry/mortality ; Female ; Formaldehyde ; Human ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Middle Age ; Multivariate Analysis ; Prognosis ; Protein p53/*analysis ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Survival Analysis ; Tumor Markers, Biological/*analysis