Gastric adenocarcinoma expressing human epidermal growth factor receptor in South Asian population

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. Although the prevalence of Her-2/neu over-expression in gastric cancer has been reported across the world, it is still unknown from South Asia. The aim of this study is to evaluate Her-2/neu expression in gastric adenocarcinomas and to correlate with various clinicopathological variables.

A total of 95 consecutive patients undergoing endoscopic biopsy or gastrectomy were recruited in this study. Clinicopathological parameters of all patients were recorded and hematoxylin and eosin (H and E) staining was performed. Over-expression of Her-2/neu was investigated by immunohistochemistry using α-Her-2 antibody. To quantify Her-2/neu over-expression, the Hofmann validation scoring system was used and further its association was seen with age, gender, histopathological type, grade, and stage of the tumor. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 21. A P value of <0.05 was considered as significant.

Overall, 21 (22.1%) cases were positive for Her-2/neu overexpression from the total of 95 gastric adenocarcinomas. Her-2/neu was significantly expressed in low-grade gastric cancer (grade I = 50%, grade II = 34.5%, grade III = 14.5%; P = 0.030). Although there was insignificant difference between Her-2/neu over expression and other variables, Her-2/neu score 3+ was predominantly seen in females, age >60 years, Laurens intestinal type, and IIIC stage tumors.

Her-2/neu is over-expressed in a limited group of gastric cancer patients in our population and indicates a significant strong association with low grades of gastric cancer.