HER-2, EGFR, COX-2 Expression status correlated to microvessel density and survival in resected non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

The incidence of lung cancer is increasing throughout the world and is the most common cause of cancer-related death. Early detection followed by surgery has a reasonable, curative potential, but 30-50% of patients experience relapses. The immunohistochemical expressions of HER-2, EGFR and COX-2 were investigated in 53 resected non-small cell lung carcinomas and correlated to microvessel density and clinical data. HER-2, EGFR and COX-2 overexpressions were demonstrated in 15%, 30% and 40% of the tumours, respectively. In adenocarcinomas, HER-2 and COX-2 overexpression were more common, whereas in squamous cell carcinomas, EGFR overexpression was more common. COX-2 expression correlated with HER-2 expression (p = 0.002), and demonstrated a trend towards a correlation with microvessel density (p = 0.10). None of the markers alone had any impact on survival. However, HER-2+/EGFR- tumours proved to have a poor prognosis. In conclusion, adjuvant treatment with HER-2 antagonists might be a future treatment option in resected non-small cell lung cancer patients, especially when HER-2 is overexpressed without a concomitant overexpression of EGFR.

Expresión de CD44v6 en carcinomas escamosos de pulmón: Asociación con altas concentraciones de EGFR, proteína erbB2 y elevada proliferación celular

“…La positividad para este oncogen y el EGFR parece definir un subgrupo de tumores con un peor comportamiento y evolución 33 . Asimismo, este gen se correlaciona con la densidad de microvasos 34 y es responsable de la resistencia a ciertos fármacos 35 . Los carcinomas escamosos son más proliferativos que los adenocarcinomas, lo cual puede explicar una mayor agresividad y una mejor respuesta al tratamiento 36 .…”

Clinical relevance of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) alterations in human pancreatic tumors

“…Several studies have shown EGFR associated with poor prognosis (12)(13)(14), whereas other trials have shown no prognostic association (15,16). In concordance with Suzuki et al (2), the disparity in reports of the EGFR as a prognostic factor may reflect differences in detection methods, reagents, assay, cut-off points and population characteristics.…”

Has Cox-2 a prognostic role in non-small-cell lung cancer? A systematic review of the literature with meta-analysis of the survival results

“…Fourteen publications, published between 1999 and 2005, were eligible for the systematic review (Achiwa et al, 1999;Hosomi et al, 2000;Khuri et al, 2001;Brabender et al, 2002;Kim et al, 2003;Ab' Saber et al, 2004;Araki et al, 2004;Lu et al, 2004;Yamaguchi et al, 2004;Brattstrom et al, 2005;Laga et al, 2005;Marrogi et al, 2005;Richardson et al, 2005;Yuan et al, 2005). These publications concerned different cohorts of patients.…”

“…Among the 14 studies eligible for the systematic review, four (Hosomi et al, 2000;Ab' Saber et al, 2004;Brattstrom et al, 2005;Marrogi et al, 2005) were inevaluable for the meta-analysis owing to a lack of data in the publication, not allowing to calculate the individual HR and its variance.…”