J Korean Cancer Assoc.  1998 Jun;30(3):450-456.

Overexpression of c-erbB2 and Its Relationship with Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer

• Koo JY
• Lee HD
• Jung WH

Abstract

PURPOSE
c-erbB2 encodes 185 kDa oncoprotein with tyrosine kinase activity and has homology to the epidermal growth factor receptor. 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 perfonned a study on 40 infiltrating ductal breast cancers 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.

Keyword

Primary breast cancer; Adjuvant chemotherapy; c-erbB2 overexpression

MeSH Terms

Breast Neoplasms*
Breast*
Chemotherapy, Adjuvant
Cyclophosphamide
Diagnosis
Disease-Free Survival
Drug Therapy*
Estrogens
Fluorouracil
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Immunohistochemistry
Methotrexate
Prognosis
Protein-Tyrosine Kinases
Proto-Oncogenes
Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor
Receptors, Progesterone
Cyclophosphamide
Estrogens
Fluorouracil
Methotrexate
Protein-Tyrosine Kinases
Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor
Receptors, Progesterone