Journal of Clinical & Experimental Pathology
Open Access

Abstract

Background & Aim: Gastric cancer is the third leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Human epidermal growth factor (HER- 2/neu) has shown strong therapeutic implication in breast cancer. Expression of HER-2/neu in gastric cancer has been reported from across the world, it is still unknown from South Asia region. The aim of this study is to evaluate HER-2/neu expression in gastric adenocarcinomas and to correlate with various clinicopathological variables. Patients & Method: A total of 95 consecutive patients undergoing endoscopic biopsy or gastrectomy were recruited in this study after institutional ethical approval. Clinicopathological parameters of all patients were recorded and hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining was performed. Expression of HER-2/neu was investigated by immunohistochemistry using �?±-HER-2 antibody. Hofmann validation scoring system was used and its association was seen with various clinicopathological variables including age, gender, histopathological type, grade and stage of the tumor. Results: HER-2/neu over expression was found in 21 (22.1%) cases from the total of 95 gastric adenocarcinomas. HER-2/neu was significantly expressed in low grade gastric cancer (p=0.030). Although there was no significant difference between HER-2/neu expression and other variables, HER-2/neu score 3+ was higher in females, age >60 years, Laurens intestinal type and IIIC stage. Conclusion: HER-2/neu is expressed in a limited group of gastric cancer patients in Pakistani population. Our findings indicate a significant strong association of HER-2/neu expression with low grades of gastric cancer.

Biography

Asma Shabbir has done her MBBS from B J Medical College, Pune, India. She has done her Post-graduation from Dow International Medical College, Karachi, Pakistan. She has a passion towards research and concerned for better prognosis of the patient. She has presented her research work in many conferences. Recently, she received the Young Researcher Award at the International Conference of Digestive Diseases in Dubai 2016. She is a member of different scientific and research associations. At present, she is working as a Researcher and as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology, Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Pakistan.

Email: drasma52@gmail.com