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VIEW ALL NEWSOverexpression of HER-2 not prognostic in colorectal cancer
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In patients with colorectal cancer, overexpression of human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) is not a predictor of outcome, according to findings reported by Irish researchers in the online journal BMC Cancer.
The report notes that overexpression of HER-2/neu is a useful prognostic indicator in breast cancer, where it correlates with poor outcomes. Dr. Dara Kavanagh at Tallaght Hospital in Dublin and colleagues conducted a clinicopathological study to see if HER-2 predicts outcome in colorectal cancer.
Immunohistochemistry to detect HER-2 overexpression used the monoclonal antibody 4B5, which these researchers normally use to determine suitability for Herceptin (trastuzumab) therapy in breast cancer.
The study group consisted of 132 consecutive patients, mean age 67 years (range 29-89), who underwent colorectal resections at a single center from January 1998 through December 1999. Twenty-six had non-malignant disease. Patients were followed up for a median of 48.5 months.
No correlation was found between HER-2 overexpression and either disease-free survival (p = 0.9) or overall survival (p = 0.8).
Nonetheless, the researchers did establish that the HER-2 protein was overexpressed in 11% of the study participants and that overexpression tends to appear in a more aggressive phenotype.
"Patients who over express HER-2 may respond to Herceptin therapy," the investigators suggest.
BMC Cancer 2009, 9.
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