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Overexpression/amplification of HER-2/neu is uncommon in hepatocellular carcinoma

Department of Pathology, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200438, China

Correspondence to:
Dr S-H Zhang
Department of Pathology, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200438, China; zhangshuhui100{at}sohu.com Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent fatal cancers in the world. Despite advances in early diagnosis and improvements in surgical techniques, the survival of patients with HCC even after resection is poor because of the high incidence of recurrences. Therefore, the identification of prognostic factors may be helpful in the development of new treatment protocols.

Aims: To investigate HER-2/neu status in HCC by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH), and to explore the possibility of using trastuzumab in the treatment of HCC.

Methods: Eight hundred and sixty eight surgical samples from patients with primary HCC were examined for their HER-2/neu status. IHC for HER-2/neu was performed with the HercepTest kit; FISH analysis was performed with the PathVysion HER-2 DNA probe kit. The correlations between HER-2/neu overexpression and clinicopathological characteristics were analysed statistically.

Results: HER-2/neu overexpression was detected in 21 (2.42%) of the 868 primary HCCs. Only one specimen showed HER-2/neu gene amplification by FISH. No significant associations were found between HER-2/neu overexpression and the clinicopathological parameters.

Conclusions: There is a low frequency of HER-2/neu overexpression/amplification in HCC. There appears to be no role for HER-2/neu as a prognostic marker and no benefit of anti-HER-2/neu trastuzumab treatment in patients with HCC.

Abbreviations: HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma

Keywords: HER-2/neu; hepatocellular carcinoma; fluorescence in situ hybridisation; immunohistochemistry