Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2/neu overexpression in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder and its prognostic significance: Is it worth hype?

• Main Authors: Santosh Kumar, Omprakash Prajapati, Kim Vaiphei, Kalpesh Mahesh Parmar, A S Sriharsha, S K Singh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd. 2015-01-01
• Series: South Asian Journal of Cancer
• Subjects: C-erbB2 gene; human epidermal growth factor receptor 2/neu; immunohistochemistry; urothelial cancer
• Online Access: http://journal.sajc.org/article.asp?issn=2278-330X;year=2015;volume=4;issue=3;spage=115;epage=117;aulast=Kumar

Aims: In urothelial tumors of the urinary bladder, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2)/neu expression has been reported over 10 years, but there is no clear correlation between prognosis and recurrence rate. The present study evaluates prognostic implication of HER-2/neu expression. Subjects and Methods: In this study, 100 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded specimens of primary transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder were processed. HER-2/neu monoclonal antibody immunohistochemistry staining procedure used for the study. Results: A total of 70 (70%) patients were positive for overexpression of HER-2/neu. HER-2/neu was positive in patients with 42 (70%) superficial tumor, 28 (70%) muscle invasive tumor, 41 (75.9%) high-grade tumor, 29 (63%) low grade tumor, 31 (68.9%) recurrent tumor, and 6 (66.6%) had positive lymph nodes. Conclusions: Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2/neu over expression was not correlated with the tumor stage, lymphnode metastasis or recurrence of the disease. HER-2/neu overexpression was statistically insignificantly correlated with the differentiation grade (P < 0.161) as compared to previous studies. Future studies on HER-2 expression with chemo-sensitivity and efficacy of HER-2-targeted therapies in urothelial carcinomas is needed.