• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7975-7979
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• 2015

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the value of IHC4 in predicting pathological response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with hormonal receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer (BC). Materials and Methods: In this retrospective exploratory study, data for 68 HR-positive BC patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy were recorded. IHC4 scores were calculated based on estrogen receptors/progesterone receptors, Ki-67 and HER2 status. Logistic and ordinal regression analyses in addition to likelihood ratio test were used to explore associations of IHC4 scores and other clinico-pathological parameters with pathological complete response (pCR) and pathological stage. Results: Taking the 25th percentile as the cut-off, a lower IHC4 score was associated with an increased probability of pCR (low; 52.9% vs. High; 21.6%, OR=4.1, 95% CI=1.28-13.16, p=0.018) and a lower pathological stage (OR=3.9, 95% CI=1.34-11.33, p=0.012). When the IHC4 score was treated as a continuous variable, a lower score was again associated with an increased probability of pCR (OR=1.010, 95% CI=1.001-1.018, p=0.025) and lower pathological stage (OR=1.009, 95% CI=1.002-1.017, P=0.008). Lower clinical stage was associated with a better pCR rate that was of borderline significance (P=0.056). When clinical stage and IHC4 score were incorporated together in a logistic model, the likelihood ratio test gave a P-value of 0.004 after removal of the IHC4 score and 0.011 after removal of the stage, indicating a more significant predictive value of the IHC4 score for pCR. Conclusions: This study suggests that the IHC4 score can predict pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in HR-positive BC patients. This finding now needs to be validated in a larger cohort of patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7671-7674
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• 2015

Background: Overexpression of HER2-neu has been reported in many epithelial malignancies, including cancers of the breast, ovaries, lungs, prostate, bladder, pancreas, colorectum and stomach as well as osteosarcomas. The aim of this study was evaluation of expression of HER2-neu immunohistochemistry (IHC) status and clinicopathologic features in a series of colonic adenocarcinomas. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive and analytical study, we surveyed 211 samples of colon adenocarcinoma from 182 patients (86.3%) undergoing total or partial colectomy and 29 (7.13%) with biopsies by colonoscopy. A sufficient sample size was obtained from all cases and the slides were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and also by IHC (HER2) staining. Results: The mean age for the patients at diagnosis was 57.9 years (range, 15-88 years). One hundred and twenty one patients (57.3%) were male. Of all patients, 201 samples (95.3%) were conventional adenocarcinomas (159, 29 and 13 cases were well, moderately and poorly differentiated, respectively) and 10 (4.7%) were mucinous type. Out of 211 cases, 171 were checked for lymph nodes metastasis and 64 were positive. There is a correlation between HER2 scores and differentiation, most score 3 cases being well differentiated (P<0.05). Conclusions: In patients with advanced colon cancer, surgery alone is not curative and other forms of therapy may be required to prolong patient survival. HER2 overexpression was found in some cases and this could be a guideline to new adjuvant therapy for these patients.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.391-405
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• 2024

Purpose: Trop family proteins, including epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and Trop-2, have garnered attention as potential therapeutic and diagnostic targets for various malignancies. This study aimed to elucidate the clinicopathological significance of these proteins in gastric carcinoma (GC) and to reinforce their potential as biomarkers for patient stratification in targeted therapies. Materials and Methods: Immunohistochemical (IHC) analyses of EpCAM and Trop-2 were performed on GC and precancerous lesions, following rigorous orthogonal validation of the antibodies to ensure specificity and sensitivity. Results: Strong membranous staining (3+) for Trop-2 was observed in 49.3% of the GC cases, whereas EpCAM was strongly expressed in almost all cases (93.2%), indicating its widespread expression in GC. A high Trop-2 expression level, characterized by an elevated H-score, was significantly associated with intestinal type by Lauren classification, gastric mucin type, presence of lymph node metastasis, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positivity, and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-positivity. Patients with a high Trop-2 expression level exhibited poorer survival outcomes on univariate and multivariate analyses. High EpCAM expression levels were prevalent in differentiated histologic type, microsatellite instability-high, and EBV-negative cancer, and were correlated with high densities of CD3 and CD8 T cells and elevated combined positive score for programmed death-ligand 1. Conclusions: These results highlight the differential expression of Trop-2 and EpCAM and their prognostic implications in GC. The use of meticulously validated antibodies ensured the reliability of our IHC data, thereby offering a robust foundation for future therapeutic strategies targeting Trop family members in GC.