Potential Role for a Panel of Immunohistochemical Markers in the Management of Endometrial Carcinoma

• Main Authors: Amany Salama, Mohammad Arafa, Eman ElZahaf, Abdelhadi Mohamed Shebl, Azmy Abd El-Hameed Awad, Sylvia A. Ashamallah, Reda Hemida, Anas Gamal, Abd AlRahman Foda, Khaled Zalata, El-Said M. Abdel-Hady
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korean Society of Pathologists & the Korean Society for Cytopathology 2019-05-01
• Series: Journal of Pathology and Translational Medicine
• Subjects: Endometrial neoplasms; Prognosis; Steroid receptors; HER2; Ki-67
• Online Access: http://www.jpatholtm.org/upload/pdf/jptm-2019-02-12.pdf

Background In order to improve the efficacy of endometrial carcinoma (EC) treatment, identifying prognostic factors for high risk patients is a high research priority. This study aimed to assess the relationships among the expression of estrogen receptors (ER), progesterone receptors (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), Ki-67, and the different histopathological prognostic parameters in EC and to assess the value of these in the management of EC. Methods We examined 109 cases of EC. Immunohistochemistry for ER, PR, HER2, and Ki-67 were evaluated in relation to age, tumor size, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage and grade, depth of infiltration, cervical and ovarian involvement, lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI), and lymph node (LN) metastasis. Results The mean age of patients in this study was 59.8 ± 8.2 years. Low ER and PR expression scores and high Ki-67 expression showed highly significant associations with non-endometrioid histology (p = .007, p < .001, and p < .001, respectively) and poor differentiation (p = .007, p < .001, and p <. 001, respectively). Low PR score showed a significant association with advanced stage (p = .009). Low ER score was highly associated with LVSI (p = .006), and low PR scores were associated significantly with LN metastasis (p = .026). HER2 expression was significantly related to advanced stages (p = .04), increased depth of infiltration (p = .02), LVSI (p = .017), ovarian involvement (p = .038), and LN metastasis (p = .038). There was a close relationship between HER2 expression and uterine cervical involvement (p = .009). Higher Ki-67 values were associated with LN involvement (p = .012). Conclusions The over-expression of HER2 and Ki-67 and low expression of ER and PR indicate a more malignant EC behavior. An immunohistochemical panel for the identification of high risk tumors can contribute significantly to prognostic assessments.