[Immunohistochemical study on the expression of c-erbB2 oncoprotein in breast tumors].

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between oncoprotein c-erbB2 over-expression and prognosis of primary breast tumor patients, and find if it can be used as a prognostic indicator. METHODS: Eighty-five cases of paraffin-embedded specimens were used for immunohistochemical study. RESULTS: Over-expression of c-erbB2 was observed in none of the 7 benign breast tumors. Twenty-three out of 78 cases of breast cancer showed over-expression with a positive rate of 29.4%. Over-expressed c-erbB2 oncoprotein was not detected in 80% of patients with negative lymph node. In clinical stage III patients, 71% of them over-expressed c-erbB2. The expression of c-erbB2 and estrogen receptor(ER) was inversely correlated in 67% of breast cancer patients. Oncoprotein c-erbB2 over-expression had no correlation with lymph node status(P > 0.05), but was closely correlated to clinical staging(P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Patients with over-expression of c-erbB2 oncoprotein showed poor prognosis. The c-erbB2 may be used for predicting the prognosis of breast cancer patients.