THE VALUE OF HER-2 IN HORMONAL RECEPTOR POSITIVE BREAST CANCER PATIENTS

Abstract

In the present study, immunostaining for HER-2 receptors was done in 51 breast cancer patients.

All patients were hormonal receptor positive and presented with

advanced and /or metastatic disease with frequency as follow, 14 patients (27.4%) presented with metastatic disease, 9 patients (17.6%) presented with advanced disease, 28 patients (54.9%) presented with • both advanced and metastatic disease.

In the present study the frequency ofHER-2 overexpression was as I \ follow, 18 cases were negative (35.3%), 15 cases were scored as

positive + {29.4%), 12 cases scored as positive + + (23.5%), and 6 cases were scored as positive + + + {11.8%). Thus, the incidence of ' HER-2 overexpression in our study is 35.3% as HER-2 positive include ' patients who scored as positive+ +and positive+++.

In the present study, it was found that HER-2 overexpression is more common among premenopausal patients as it was found in 11 cases (42.3%) of 26 premenopausal patients included in the study, while incidence of HER- 2 overexpression among postmenopausal cases was 28%. (P = 0.29)

In the present study, it was found that HER-2 overexpression is associated with large sized tumors (p = 0.01), as 16 cases of HER-2 positive patients presented with T4 tumors (88.8%) while 2 cases of HER-2 positive patients presented with T3 tumors (11.1%).