The aim of the present study was to evaluate the protein

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the protein expression level of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and assess the association with clinicopathological parameters and the prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). cases were analyzed with FISH. A total of 102 cases (11.6%) out of the 878 cases were determined by IHC to overexpress HER-2. Of these 25 cases were strongly positive Procoxacin (IHC3+) while 77 cases revealed moderate staining (IHC2+). HER-2 overexpression was more PRKACG frequent in early-stage cases compared with advanced-stage cases of CRC (P<0.001). However there was no association observed between HER-2 overexpression and clinicopathological parameters. FISH analysis revealed that 64% (16/25) of the IHC3+ cases Procoxacin had HER-2 gene amplification. By contrast only 6.5% (5/77) of the IHC2+ cases and none of the 20 randomly selected IHC0 or 1+ cases demonstrated HER-2 gene amplification. Furthermore no associations were observed between HER-2 overexpression or gene amplification with the survival time. Thus the present study observed that HER-2 overexpression does not correlate with other clinicopathological data or the survival rate with the exception of clinical stages. However IHC3+ and 2+ cases should be further analyzed by FISH to assess the status of the HER-2 gene in CRC. Sufferers with HER-2 Procoxacin gene amplification may constitute seeing that potential applicants for targeted therapy with trastuzumab. hybridization herceptin Launch Colorectal tumor (CRC) is among the many common types of tumor and may be the 4th leading reason behind cancer mortality world-wide (1). With financial advancement and lifestyle changes the occurrence and mortality prices of CRC have rapidly increased in China. With the exception of surgery the majority of treatments for CRC including traditional chemo- and radiation therapies are not fully efficacious in treating the disease. The recent development of novel drugs targeting CRC has improved the survival rate of patients with the disease. Targeted drugs for the treatment of malignancy have rapidly designed. The human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) signaling pathway plays an important role in tumor proliferation angiogenesis differentiation and metastasis in CRC (2). HER-2-targeted drugs including Herceptin have been developed and widely applied for the treatment Procoxacin of breast cancer presenting with membranous HER-2 overexpression (3 4 The HER-2 oncogene is usually a member of the tyrosine kinase family of receptors which includes HER-1 also known as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) HER-2 HER-3 and HER-4. HER-2 is located on chromosome 17q21 and encodes a 185 kDa transmembrane protein. HER-2 activation initiates transmission cascades including the mitogen-activated protein kinase and phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt signaling pathways which are essential for cell proliferation and differentiation. Thus HER-2 overexpression prospects to the disordered proliferation and malignant transformation of cells. HER-2 is usually overexpressed in numerous types of malignant malignancy including breast ovarian gastric lung colorectal and prostate cancers (5). Chen (6) revealed that the detection of HER-2 protein expression may be used to assess the malignant biological behavior and prognosis of gastric malignancy. The European Committee has already approved chemotherapy combined with Herceptin as a treatment for cases of gastric malignancy presenting with membranous HER-2 overexpression (7). Thus ensuring that the expression level of HER-2 in patients with gastric malignancy is examined accurately is of importance. However conflicting data exist with regard to the prevalence of HER-2 overexpression in CRC with a range between 2 and 47% while the prevalence of HER-2 gene amplification ranges between 2.5 and 7.4% (8-27). Similarly there is controversy in the published literature with regard to the association between the survival rate and HER-2 overexpression in CRC (10-13 28 Since you will find few published studies investigating HER-2 expression in CRC and genetic differences exist between ethnic groups with regard to tumorigenesis numerous topics require further study. Thus the present study investigated the frequency of HER-2 overexpression and gene amplification in CRC and whether HER-2 overexpression and gene amplification were consistent. In addition associations between HER-2 overexpression with clinicopathological parameters and the prognosis of CRC were analyzed. Materials and methods Patients and tissue specimens Clinicopathological data and paraffin-embedded specimens were collected from 878 patients who underwent colorectal resections at Dongfang Hospital (Fuzhou China).