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HER2/neu expression in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients is not significantly elevated
Yasaman Sardari1, Soheil Pardis, Azadeh Andisheh Tadbir
1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Dental School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Background:
HER2/neu, a member of EGFR family, is over expressed in some tumors .The purpose of this study was to determine the salivary level and tissue expression of HER2/neu in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and any correlation with clinicopathologic parameters.
Methods:
An enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to evaluate the salivary level and immunohistochemistry (IHC) to assess tissue expression of HER2/neu in 28 patients with HNSCC and 25 healthy controls.
Results:
The salivary levels of HER2/neu in HNSCC patients was not significantly higher than in the healthy controls (p>0.005). There was no apparent correlation in salivary HER2/neu level with clinicopathological features such as age, sex, grade, tumor size and nodal status. All HNSCC specimens were positive (membranous or/and cytoplasmic) for HER2/ neu, except one sample. Only one HNSCC specimen was stained in cytoplasm purely. All control specimens were membranous and cytoplasmic positive for HER2/neu. There was a significant difference between cytoplasmic staining in case and control groups (p-value<0.05).
Conclusion:
In our cases, no overexpression of HER2/neu was observed. Thus, our findings suggested that the use of Her-2 as a salivary marker of HNSCC cannot be recommended.
