Expressions of nm23 gene products/nucleoside diphosphate kinases, epidermal growth factor receptor, erbB-2 protein, and sex steroid receptor status in ovarian carcinomas were also examined by immunohistochemistry.
Approximately 30% of human breast and ovarian cancers have amplification and/or overexpression of HER-2/neu gene which encodes a cell surface growth-factor receptor.
No genomic rearrangements by Southern blotting were seen in the brcAI candidate gene estradiol 17 beta dehydrogenase 2 (17hsd2), or in erbB2, prohibition (phb) and nmeI (previously nm23-HI).
The HER-2/neu gene is amplified and/or overexpressed in 25%-30% of human breast and ovarian cancers, and overexpression of the receptor is associated with poor prognosis.
Furthermore, intraperitoneal delivery of the anti-erbB-2 sFv enhances survival and reduces tumor burden in a xenograft model of human ovarian carcinoma in SCID mice.
Overexpression of p185(c-erbB2) (p185/NEU/HER2) by tumor cells is associated with a poor prognosis in many but not all studies of breast and ovarian cancer.
To examine the hypothesis that coamplified and/or coregulated topoisomerase IIalpha contributes to the resistance of c-erbB-2-overexpressing carcinomas, we established a chemosensitivity assay using primary cells from an ovarian carcinoma that overexpressed both c-erbB-2 and topoisomerase IIalpha.
Archival tissues from 23 cases of papillary serous ovarian carcinoma (9 cases of stage I and 14 cases of stage III) were analyzed by FISH using a HER-2/neu probe and a chromosome 17 centromere control probe.
The SKOV-3 ovarian carcinoma cell line, one of the only models for HER2-driven ovarian cancer, expresses a major uncharacterized 8-kb alternative HER-2 transcript.
These findings suggested that c-erbB-2 or FGF-3 gene amplification might be one of the oncogenic events implicated in the development of ovarian cancers, yet is not a useful prognostic marker.
A pilot study on relationships of selected molecular factors [erbB-1, erbB-2, erbB-3, and c-myc oncogene average gene copy numbers (AGCN); steroid receptors and pS2 gene expression; tumor cells' DNA values] to the ex vivo chemosensitivity of ovarian cancer in a modified adenosine triphosphate cell viability chemosensitivity assay (ATP-CVA), was performed.
Forty-five patients with stage III or IV HER-2/neu overexpressing breast or ovarian cancer were evaluated for HER-2/neu specific T cell and antibody immunity.