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. 2017 Mar;17(1):52-62.
doi: 10.5230/jgc.2017.17.e6. Epub 2017 Mar 17.

Epidemiologic Study of Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 Expression in Advanced/Metastatic Gastric Cancer: an Assessment of Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 Status in Tumor Tissue Samples of Gastric and Gastro-Esophageal Junction Cancer

Kyung Won Seo  1 , Taeyong Jeon  2 , Sewon Kim  3 , Sung Soo Kim  4 , Kwanghee Kim  5 , Byoung-Jo Suh  6 , Sunhwi Hwang  7 , SeongHee Choi  8 , Seungwan Ryu  9 , Jae Seok Min  10 , Young-Joon Lee  11 , Ye Seob Jee  12 , Hyeondong Chae  13 , Doo Hyun Yang  14 , Sang Ho Lee  1
Affiliations

Epidemiologic Study of Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 Expression in Advanced/Metastatic Gastric Cancer: an Assessment of Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 Status in Tumor Tissue Samples of Gastric and Gastro-Esophageal Junction Cancer

Kyung Won Seo et al. J Gastric Cancer. 2017 Mar.

Abstract

Purpose: The Trastuzumab for gastric cancer (GC) trial identified human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) as a predictor of successful treatment with trastuzumab (HER2 receptor targeting agent) among patients with advanced/metastatic GC. To date, the prevalence of HER2 overexpression in the Korean population is unknown. The present study aimed to assess the incidence of HER2 positivity among GC and gastroesophageal (GE) junction cancer samples and the relationship between HER2 overexpression and clinicopathological characteristics in Korean patients.

Materials and methods: Tumor samples collected from 1,695 patients with histologically proven GC or GE junction enrolled at 14 different hospitals in Korea were examined. After gathering clinicopathological data of all patients, HER2 status was assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) at each hospital, and IHC 2+ cases were subjected to silver-enhanced in situ hybridization at 3 central laboratories.

Results: A total of 182 specimens tested positive for HER2, whereas 1,505 tested negative. Therefore, the overall HER2-positive rate in this study was 10.8% (95% confidence interval=9.3%-12.3%). The HER2-positive rate was higher among intestinal-type cases (17.6%) than among other types, and was higher among patients older than 70 years and 50 years of age, compared to other age groups.

Conclusions: Our evaluation of the HER2 positivity rate (10.8%) among Korean patients with GC and GE junction indicated the necessity of epidemiological data when conducting studies related to HER2 expression in GC and GE junction.

Keywords: Immunohistochemistry; In situ hybridization; Incidence; Receptor, ErbB-2; Stomach neoplasms.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
HER2 test algorithm. HER2 = human epidermal growth factor receptor 2; IHC = immunohistochemistry; FISH = fluorescence in situ hybridization; SISH = silver-enhanced in situ hybridization.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Flowchart of tumor sample testing results. IHC = immunohistochemistry; FISH = fluorescence in situ hybridization; SISH = silver-enhanced in situ hybridization; HER2 = human epidermal growth factor receptor 2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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