HER-2 Protein Overexpression in Patients with Gastric and Esophageal adenocarcinoma at a tertiary care facility in Ghana

Abstract

The prognosis of gastric and esophageal adenocarcinoma remains generally poor. However, mounting evidence suggests a positive role of human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) expression in the prognosis of patients with these cancers. In this work, the patterns of HER-2 protein expression were determined in patients with gastric or esophageal adenocarcinoma. Retrospectively, we reviewed records of gastric and esophageal biopsies received from 2008 to 2012 and their corresponding archived formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks selected for immunohistochemical analysis. The prevalence of gastric and esophageal adenocarcinomas and their association with HER-2 protein overexpression were evaluated. Gastric adenocarcinoma made up 18.79% of the gastric biopsies reviewed, and majority of these cancers occurred in males. Regarding the tumors type, HER-2 overexpression was common in the intestinal subtype compared to the diffuse type. Although squamous cell carcinoma was observed to be the commonest (31%) tumors type in the esophagus compared to adenocarcinoma (8.79%), HER-2 was overexpressed in 42.9% of esophageal adenocarcinomas, like gastric adenocarcinoma (41.4%). There is a high prevalence of gastric and esophageal adenocarcinoma, with significant overexpression of HER-2 in these tumors, a window of hope for the management of patients with these cancers