Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal

Abstract

ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND :
Overexpression of Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2(Her2/neu)
Protein has been observed in many human cancers including gastric cancer . Gastric cancer remains the most common cause of cancer –related death worldwide. Her2/neu overexpression
in gastric cancer associated with poor prognosis and shorter survival rate , the assessment of this protein for selection of eligible patients for treatment with trastzumab in addition to conventional chemo therapy.
OBJECTIVE:
To evaluate the Her2/neu over expression in gastric cancer by immunohistochemical
Technique and to find the correlation between the protein exopression and clinicopathological
Parameters as age ,sex, histological types and grade of the tumor.
MATERIALS AND METHODS :
This is a pro-& retrospective study conducted at the pathology department of Al-Jamhuri Teaching hospital and some private laboratories . A total of 30 cases of gastric cancer were collected and diagnosed in the period spanning from April 2010 to April 2012, .An immunohistochemical technique was used for the assessment of Her2 against age,sex, histological types and grade of tumor
RESULTS :
The mean age of the patients was 54.5 years ranging from 30 to 87 years, Her2/neu overexpression was shown in 30% of the cases , in this study there is no relation between Her2 positivity and age or sex, , it was associated with histological types p-value = 0.04,where as 42.6 % of the intestinal type show immunoreactivity and 11.1% of diffuse type,while two cases of mixed types were shown no reactivity(0.0% ). Her2 positivity was associated with moderate differentiated tumor (50%) more than poorly differentiated (20%) but not reaching the statistical significance.
CONCLUSION:
Her2/neu positivity was found in 30% of gastric cancer , there is no relation between the age or sex of the patient & Her2 positivity while intestinal type and moderately differentiated tumor were associated with high percentage of Her2 positivity.