Prognostic and therapeutic relevance of HER2 expression in osteosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma

Expression of HER2 was evaluated by immunohistochemical techniques in 84 osteosarcoma (OS) and 113 Ewing's sarcoma (ES) paraffin-embedded tumour biopsies. HER2 gene status was also assessed in a panel of cell lines as well as in vitro efficacy of trastuzumab (a humanised antibody directed against HER2) as single agent or in combination with the insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGF-IR) IR3 antibody. Overexpression of HER2 was present in 32% of OS and 16% of ES and was significantly associated with the increased expression of P-glycoprotein, a surface molecule responsible for multidrug resistance. Event-free survival analyses revealed a prognostic value for HER2 and/or P-glycoprotein expression in OS, but not in ES. However, despite its prognostic relevance, no therapeutic effectiveness was observed pre-clinically for trastuzumab-driven therapy, in both OS or ES cell lines, unless the antibody was associated with anti-IGF-IR targeting strategies. Therefore, the therapeutic potential of trastuzumab in these neoplasms may be better exploited in combined treatments with anti-IGF-IR approaches.