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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 2019; 40(S 01): S54-S60
DOI: 10.4103/ijmpo.ijmpo_172_17
Original Article

A Study of Hormone Receptor Status in Breast Carcinoma and use of HER2-Targeted Therapy in a Tertiary Care Center of India

Sandeep Bhaskar
Departments of Radiotherapy, SMS Medical College and Attached Group of Hospitals, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
,
Kartick Rastogi
Departments of Radiotherapy, SMS Medical College and Attached Group of Hospitals, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
,
Shivani Gupta
Departments of Radiotherapy, SMS Medical College and Attached Group of Hospitals, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
,
Arpita Jindal
Departments of Pathology, SMS Medical College and Attached Group of Hospitals, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
,
Aseem Rai Bhatnagar
Department of Radiation Oncology, Shalby Hospital, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
,
Sandeep Jain
Departments of Radiotherapy, SMS Medical College and Attached Group of Hospitals, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
› Author Affiliations Financial support and sponsorship Nil.
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Abstract

Aims: The aim is to study the hormone receptor status, association of HER2 expression with prognostic factors and use of HER2-targeted therapy in North Indian breast cancer patients. Subjects and Methods: Immunohistochemistry reports of 288 breast cancer patients registered in the department of Radiotherapy, SMS Medical College, Jaipur in 2015–2016 were analyzed for estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and c-erb B-2 protein (HER2/neu) expression. Equivocal HER2 (2+) was further confirmed by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). Number of patients receiving HER2/neu-targeted therapy was also studied. Results: For ER, positive status was more common (56%), whereas for PR and HER2/neu, negative status was more common (59% and 60% resp.). HER2 status was unknown for 25% patients. The percentage of equivocal HER2 (immunohistochemistry 2+) cases showing amplification on FISH was also high (56.7%). The percentage of eligible cases for targeted therapy actually receiving it was low (28%). The percentage of triple negative phenotype (ER-/PR-/HER2-) was high (29.8%). Triple-negative breast cancer phenotype was more common in young-aged premenopausal women but was not statistically significant. All HER2/neu + cases were infiltrating ductal carcinoma. HER2/neu expression was significantly higher with large tumor size (P = 0.001), high tumor grade (P < 0.001), advanced stage (P = 0.001), greater number of positive lymph nodes (P = 0.02), and ER/PR negativity (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Most of the breast cancer patients are ER and/or PR positive and HER2/neu negative. The percentage of triple-negative phenotype is higher. More than half of HER2/neu 2+ cases show amplification on FISH assay. The percentage of eligible patients actually receiving targeted therapy is low. HER2/neu protein expression is significantly higher with adverse features such as large tumor size, high grade, advanced stage, greater number of positive lymph nodes, and ER/PR negativity.

Keywords

C-erb B-2 protein - estrogen receptor - fluorescent in situ hybridization - progesterone receptor - targeted therapy - triple-negative breast cancer


Publication History

Article published online:
24 May 2021

© 2019. Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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