[The search for amplification of the ERBB-2 oncogene in human tumors]

The occurrence of ERBB-2 (HER-2/NEU) oncogene amplification was studied in 203 DNA samples obtained from 175 cancer patients. Amplification of ERBB-2 oncogene was established in 14 out of 63 (22%) patients with breast cancer, 1 out of 23 cases of ovarian tumor, 1 out of 19 cases of large bowel cancer and 1 out of 27 patients with cancer of the thyroid. Patients with lung cancer (34), soft tissue sarcoma (6) and malignant melanoma (3) failed to reveal any changes in the above oncogene. A tendency was established for ERBB-2 oncogene amplification to be associated with lymph node involvement in female patients with breast cancer: amplification was observed in 9 out of 28 patients presenting with lymph node metastases and only in 5 out of 29 metastases-free cases. To summarize, ERBB-2 oncogene is fairly often activated in human tumors but a high occurrence of the gene amplification was observed in female patients with breast cancer only.