Prognostic association of c-erbB-2 oncogene amplification and protein overexpression in human breast cancer using archival tissues. A comparative study.
Acta Oncol 1994;
33:493-8. [PMID:
7917361 DOI:
10.3109/02841869409083924]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
The prognostic associations of c-erbB-2 gene amplification analysed by dot-blot hybridization and of c-erbB-2 protein overexpression assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) were compared in 161 patients with operable breast cancer using formalin fixed paraffin embedded archival tissues. The efficiency of the dot-blot technique to detect c-erbB-2 amplification was first validated by comparing the results of dot-blot with those of Southern blot hybridization in 134 tumour samples and there was an excellent correlation. In the main series of 161 samples, where results of IHC and dot-blot were compared, 35.4% showed c-erbB-2 overexpression and 17.4% showed gene amplification. Tumours showing overexpression of c-erbB-2 protein had a significantly shorter disease-free survival (DSF) and survival(s) compared to tumours showing no overexpression. A multivariate analysis revealed that c-erbB-2 overexpression was independently correlated with poor prognosis. On the other hand, no significant association between c-erbB-2 gene amplification and DFS or S was observed. We conclude that c-erbB-2 protein overexpression assessed by IHC is a superior prognostic indicator in operable breast cancer compared to c-erbB-2 gene amplification analysed by the dot-blot technique.
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