Lung

, Volume 184, Issue 5, pp 267–272 | Cite as

The Role of c-erbB-2 Expression on the Survival of Patients with Small-Cell Lung Cancer

  • Ozlem Canoz
  • Metin Ozkan
  • Vedat Arsav
  • Ozlem Er
  • H. Senol Coskun
  • Serdar Soyuer
  • Mustafa Altinbas
LUNG CANCER
Received:

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the incidence and role of c-erbB-2 overexpression as a predictive/prognostic marker in small-cell lung carcinoma (SCLC). We performed a retrospective study on subjects with a biopsy-proven diagnosis of SCLC. A chart review for demographic and clinical data was performed on patients with SCLC diagnosed between 1998 and 2004. c-erbB-2 overexpression was evaluated using immunohistochemistry performed on archival paraffin-embedded specimens. Sixty-seven patients with SCLC were identified (6 females, 61 males; median age- 56.5 yr, range-34–75) all of whom had adequate tissue specimens available for c-erB-2 testing. Of the 67 specimens, 12 (17.9%) showed c-erbB-2 overexpression. Seventy-five of the cases were positive for c-erbB-2, had extensive disease. The median overall survival of patients with SCLC whose tumors were positive and negative for c-erbB-2 were 8 ± 0.9 months (95%CI 6.3–9.7) and 11 ± 1.5 months (95%CI 8.0–14.0), respectively. c-erbB-2 overexpression detected using immunohistochemistry is observed in 17.9% of patients with SCLC and has statistically significant prognostic value. Our findings suggest that c-erbB-2 may be a potential target for site-specific immunotherapy in SCLC. Considering one technique examined, further molecular investigation is needed to confirm these preliminary findings.

Keywords

Small-cell lung careinoma c-erbB-2 Prognosis 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2006

Authors and Affiliations

  • Ozlem Canoz
    • 1
    • 2
  • Metin Ozkan
    • 3
  • Vedat Arsav
    • 2
  • Ozlem Er
    • 3
  • H. Senol Coskun
    • 4
  • Serdar Soyuer
    • 5
  • Mustafa Altinbas
    • 3
  1. 1.KayseriTurkey
  2. 2.Department of PathologyErciyes University Medical FacultyKayseriTurkey
  3. 3.Department of Medical OncologyErciyes University Medical FacultyKayseriTurkey
  4. 4.Department of Medical OncologySuleyman Demirel University Medical FacultyTopartaTurkey
  5. 5.Department of Radiation OncologyErciyes University Medical FacultyKayseriTurkey

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