Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Jul;105(7):818-24.
doi: 10.1111/cas.12421. Epub 2014 May 16.

Human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 expression in locally advanced rectal cancer: association with response to neoadjuvant therapy and prognosis

Xiangjiao Meng  1 , Renben Wang, Zhaoqin Huang, Jianbo Zhang, Rui Feng, Xiaoqing Xu, Kunli Zhu, Xue Dou, Dong Chen, Jinming Yu
Affiliations

Human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 expression in locally advanced rectal cancer: association with response to neoadjuvant therapy and prognosis

Xiangjiao Meng et al. Cancer Sci. 2014 Jul.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine whether pretreatment status of human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) could predict pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) and outcomes for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). A total of 119 patients diagnosed with LARC received standardized multimodal treatment. Their HER-2 status was determined in pretreatment biopsies by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and FISH. Tumor response was assessed in resected regimens using the tumor regression grade system and TNM staging system. Twenty-two cases in 119 patients assessed as IHC3+ or IHC2+ plus gene-amplified were determined as HER-2 positive. Positive HER-2 status was not associated with any pretreatment clinicopathologic parameters (P > 0.05). HER-2 status could not predict pathologic response to nCRT based on downstaging (P = 0.210) and tumor regression grade (P = 0.085) but it provides us with a trend that HER-2-positive tumors may be resistant to nCRT. Positive HER-2 status was significantly associated with poor 5-year disease-free survival (P = 0.015) and 5-year overall survival (P = 0.026). It can act as a worse prognostic factor for LARC patients.

Keywords: HER-2; neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy; rectal cancer; survival; tumor response.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Immunohistochemical staining for human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) in rectal cancer cells. (a) No staining observed (0). (b) Faint staining detected in >10% of tumor cells (1+). (c) Moderate staining observed in >10% of tumor cells (2+). (d) Strong staining observed in >10% of tumor cells (3+). Magnification, ×400.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Fluorescence in situ hybridization in rectal cancer cells. (a) Tumors showed no HER-2 amplification. (b) Tumors showed HER-2 amplification with a HER-2/CEP17 ratio >2.0. Magnification, ×400.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Kaplan–Meier estimates of disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rates in relation to human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) status. (a) HER-2 positivity in rectal cancers correlate with a shorter DFS curves (P = 0.015). (b) HER-2 positivity in rectal cancers correlate with a shorter OS curves (P = 0.026).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Jemal A, Bray F, Center MM, et al. Forman D: global cancer statistics. CA Cancer J Clin. 2011;61:69–70. - PubMed
    1. van Gijn W, Marijnen CA, Nagtegaal ID, et al. Preoperative radiotherapy combined with total mesorectal excision for resectable rectal cancer: 12-Year follow-up of the multicentre, randomised controlled TME trial. Lancet Oncol. 2011;12:575–82. - PubMed
    1. Sauer R, Becker H, Hohenberger W, et al. Preoperative versus postoperative chemoradiotherapy for rectal cancer. N Engl J Med. 2004;351:1731–40. - PubMed
    1. Roh MS, Colangelo LH, O'Connell MJ, et al. Preoperative multimodality therapy improves disease-free survival in patients with carcinoma of the rectum: NSABP R-03. J Clin Oncol. 2009;27:5124–30. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rödel C, Liersch T, Becker H, et al. Preoperative chemoradiotherapy and postoperative chemotherapy with fluorouracil and oxaliplatin versus fluorouracil alone in locally advanced rectal cancer: initial results of the German CAO(ARO/AIO-04 randomised phase3 trial. Lancet Oncol. 2012;13:679–87. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms