Expression of Her2/neu oncogene product p185 in correlation to clinicopathological and prognostic factors of gastric carcinoma

The expression of the Her2/neu gene product p 185 was retrospectively analyzed in 58 patients with gastric carcinoma. The results were correlated to various clinicopathological and prognostic factors. Positive membrane staining for p185 could be detected in 38% of the patients (22/58). Membrane staining was significantly greater in well and moderately differentiated tumors of the intestinal type when compared with poorly differentiated lesions and carcinomas of the diffuse type (P<0.01). Positive membrane staining did not correlate with site and tumor stage, but T1 lesions had less membrane staining than more advanced primary tumors. Overall survival showed no difference between p185-positive and negative cases. Multivariate analysis defined a subgroup of curatively resected patients with stage III and IV disease that had a statistically significant poorer survival when p185 was overexpressed (P=0.005). Overexpression of the Her2/neu product p185 appears to be associated with intestinal-type gastric carcinoma and may sociated with intestinal-type gastric carcinoma and may help in identifying a subset of patients at increased risk for shorter survival.