PMID- 17451461 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20080325 LR - 20181030 IS - 1525-1438 (Electronic) IS - 1048-891X (Linking) VI - 18 IP - 1 DP - 2008 Jan-Feb TI - HER-2/neu overexpression and amplification in uterine serous papillary carcinoma: comparative analysis of immunohistochemistry, real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, and fluorescence in situ hybridization. PG - 14-21 AB - Uterine serous papillary carcinoma (USPC) is a rare and highly malignant form of endometrial cancer (EC) characterized by early metastasis, chemoresistance, and high mortality rate. Little is known about USPC tumorigenesis even if recently a HER-2/neu role has been suggested in its development and progression. The aim of the present study was to evaluate HER-2 expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 12 USPC formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples. Moreover, we looked at the correlation between HER-2 protein expression and HER-2/neu gene amplification by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), other than HER-2/neu messenger RNA expression by quantitative real-time reverse transcription (RT)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Finally, these results have been compared with commonly evaluated clinical features in EC patients, in order to define the potential prognostic value of HER-2/neu overexpression in USPCs. A high expression of HER-2 protein by IHC was noted in 2 of 12 patients (16.6%), and the same cases showed specific HER-2/neu gene amplification by FISH. All the samples investigated displayed a perfect concordance between IHC and FISH data. Five (41.6%) of 12 tumors demonstrated polysomy of chromosome 17 and, focusing on the 2 USPCs that showed HER-2/neu overexpression, one of them (50%) was polysomic for chromosome 17. All the other USPC cases (58.4%) showed to be disomic for chromosome 17. Quantitative RT real-time PCR performed on complementary DNA obtained from all FFPE USPC samples showed a complete correlation with FISH and IHC data. Moreover, HER-2/neu overexpression was associated with a poorer overall survival and a very low relapse-free survival time, thus being considered a candidate marker of worse overall prognosis in USPC. The use of trastuzumab (Herceptin), a monoclonal antibody directed against HER-2/neu, for the therapy of patients with HER-2/neu-positive USPCs should be further investigated in clinical trials. FAU - Odicino, F E AU - Odicino FE AD - Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy. fodicino@tiscali.it FAU - Bignotti, E AU - Bignotti E FAU - Rossi, E AU - Rossi E FAU - Pasinetti, B AU - Pasinetti B FAU - Tassi, R A AU - Tassi RA FAU - Donzelli, C AU - Donzelli C FAU - Falchetti, M AU - Falchetti M FAU - Fontana, P AU - Fontana P FAU - Grigolato, P G AU - Grigolato PG FAU - Pecorelli, S AU - Pecorelli S LA - eng PT - Comparative Study PT - Journal Article DEP - 20070419 PL - England TA - Int J Gynecol Cancer JT - International journal of gynecological cancer : official journal of the International Gynecological Cancer Society JID - 9111626 RN - EC 2.7.10.1 (Receptor, ErbB-2) SB - IM MH - Aged MH - Aged, 80 and over MH - Cystadenocarcinoma, Papillary/*genetics/metabolism/pathology MH - Female MH - *Gene Amplification MH - Humans MH - Immunoenzyme Techniques MH - In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence MH - Lymph Nodes/pathology MH - Middle Aged MH - Neoplasm Invasiveness/pathology MH - Paraffin Embedding MH - Prognosis MH - Receptor, ErbB-2/*genetics/*metabolism MH - Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction MH - Survival Rate MH - Uterine Neoplasms/*genetics/*metabolism/pathology EDAT- 2007/04/25 09:00 MHDA- 2008/03/26 09:00 CRDT- 2007/04/25 09:00 PHST- 2007/04/25 09:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2008/03/26 09:00 [medline] PHST- 2007/04/25 09:00 [entrez] AID - IJG946 [pii] AID - 10.1111/j.1525-1438.2007.00946.x [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Int J Gynecol Cancer. 2008 Jan-Feb;18(1):14-21. doi: 10.1111/j.1525-1438.2007.00946.x. Epub 2007 Apr 19.