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OBJECTIVES:

Overexpression of the epidermal growth factor receptor family genes, which include ErbB-1, 2, 3 and 4, has been implicated in a number of cancers. We have studied the extent of ErbB-2 overexpression among Indian women with sporadic breast cancer.

METHODS:

Immmunohistochemistry and genomic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were used to study the ErbB2 overexpression. ErbB2 status was correlated with other clinico-pathological parameters, including patient survival.

RESULTS:

ErbB-2 overexpression was detected in 43.2%(159/368) of the cases by immunohistochemistry. For a sub-set of patients (n= 55) for whom total DNA was available, ErbB-2 gene amplification was detected in 25.5%(14/55) of the cases by genomic PCR. While the ErbB2 overexpression was significantly higher in patients with lymphnode (χ 2= 12.06, P≤ 0.001), larger tumor size (χ 2= 8.22, P= 0.042) and ductal …