Expression of Her-2/neu in Colon Carcinoma and Its Correlation with the Histological Grades and the Lymph Nodes Status

Background and Objective: This study was done to check the expression of Her-2/neu in colon carcinoma and its correlation with the histological grades and lymph node metastasis. Colon cancer is the third prevalent cancer in men and women and it is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in both. Her-2/neu is a useful antigenic marker in immunological studies of colon carcinoma and it can be used for predicting the prognosis and the treatment. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted on 40 cases of histopathologically proven colon carcinoma cases to check for Her-2/neu expression by using the novocastra kit. Both cytoplasmic as well as membranous staining were considered as positive for colon cancer. Results: Her-2/neu was positive in 65% of the cases. It was seen in 68.75% cases of well differentiated, 53.84% cases of moderately differentiated and 100% cases of poorly differentiated conventional adenocarcinomas. Mucinous carcinomas showed more positivity (71.4%) for Her-2/neu as compared to conventional adenocarcinomas (64.5%). The positivity was more in the grade III tumours as compared to that in the other grades. All the colorectal carcinoma cases with metastatic nodes were positive for Her-2/neu staining. Conclusion: Thus, it was concluded that colorectal carcinomas, especially those with lymph node metastasis, should be subjected to Her-2/neu expression studies, as the tumours which expressed Her-2/neu could carry a poor prognosis and therefore would require a different therapeutic approach, as these cases could respond to Trastuzumab (Herceptin) therapy.