Prospective Study
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World J Gastroenterol. May 21, 2014; 20(19): 5889-5896
Published online May 21, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i19.5889
Frequency of HER2/neu overexpression in adenocarcinoma of the gastrointestinal system
Sadaf Farzand, Tahir Siddique, Kanwal Saba, Mulazim Hussain Bukhari
Sadaf Farzand, Tahir Siddique, Kanwal Saba, Mulazim Hussain Bukhari, Department of Pathobiology, King Edward Medical University, Lahore 54000, Pakistan
Author contributions: Farzand S conceived the study, analyzed the data, and performed HER2/neu analysis; Siddique T retrieved clinical information, obtained a collection of tissue specimens for analysis, and participated in editing of the manuscript; Saba K did all statistical analysis and helped in calculating sample size; Bukhari MH supervised the project and conducted pathological analyses.
Correspondence to: Mulazim Hussain Bukhari, Professor, Department of Pathobiology, King Edward Medical University, Nila Gumbad, Anarkali, Lahore 54000, Pakistan. mulazim.hussain@gmail.com
Telephone: +92-42-37592696 Fax: +92-42-37592696
Received: May 7, 2013
Revised: November 12, 2013
Accepted: December 3, 2013
Published online: May 21, 2014
Processing time: 376 Days and 21.2 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: The role of HER2/neu was seen in 50 cases of gastrointestinal adenocarcinoma by immunohistochemistry. Overall, HER2/neu protein overexpression was found in 33 (66%) patients (P = 0.000), with 23 (69.6%) being colorectal carcinoma while the remaining 10 (30%) were gastric carcinoma. There was highly significant association between tumor grades and HER2/neu protein overexpression. HER2/neu protein was overexpressed in those adenocarcinomas showing a significant association between grade of tumor and HER2/neu protein overexpression. This discovery may improve treatment options for cases of gastric and colorectal carcinomas.