Abstract:
Objective To explore the expression and gene amplification status of human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) in the different stages of invasive urothelial bladder carcinoma.
Methods Tumor tissues from 49 patients with different stages of invasive urothelial bladder carcinoma were tested by immunohistochemical staining for HER2 and HER2 gene fluorescence in situ hybridization.
Results The number of male patients was higher than that of females. The positive rate of HER2 protein expression was higher in the patients with the higher stage of invasive urothelial bladder carcinoma. However, no gene amplification was observed in all patients. Twelve patients had ployploid chromosome 17. More ployploids were observed in the patients with the higher stage of invasive urothelial bladder carcinoma.
Conclusion The increase in the protein expression of HER2 in the invasive urothelial bladder carcinoma patients was not caused by gene amplification. Other transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms were probably involved in the regulation of the HER2 protein.