Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P04626 (erbB-2)
 5,251 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Expression of the molecular biological factors (MBFs) c-erbB-2, Ki-67 antigen, and tenascin (TN) was assessed immunohistochemically in specimens from patients who had undergone surgery for carcinoma of the papilla of Vater. The MBFs were then analyzed by histological factors (v, d, panc, n, Stage), which have been demonstrated to be outcome predictors, and by patient outcome. None of the MBFs showed any significant correlation with the histological factors. There were significant differences (p < 0.05) in the expression of c-erbB-2, Ki-67 antigen, and TN between patients who survived >5 years and those who survived <5 years. The patients with greater expression of c-erbB-2, Ki-67 antigen, and TN had a poor prognosis, whereas those with less expression had a good prognosis. They were therefore considered independent predictors of outcome for carcinoma of the papilla of Vater. Combined analysis of both histological factors and MBFs was also performed, with the result that the combined analysis of MBFs yielded a better prediction of outcome in carcinoma of the papilla of Vater than analysis of either one histological factor or MBF.
Pancreas 1996 Mar
PMID:Combined analysis of expression of c-erbB-2, Ki-67 antigen, and tenascin provides a better prognostic indicator of carcinoma of the papilla of Vater. 872 Jun 69

The epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor is overexpressed in human pancreatic cancers and cultured cell lines. TP40 is a chimeric protein composed of transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha) linked to a modified Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE40) that exerts growth inhibitory effects on cells bearing a high number of EGF receptors. Therefore, we compared the effect of TP40 on the growth of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO), cells expressing varying levels of the EGF receptor and on the growth of two human pancreatic cancer cell lines. The growth of CHO cells devoid of endogenous EGF receptors was minimally altered by high concentrations of TP40, even following a 72-h incubation period. In contrast, in CHO cells expressing approximately 95,000 and 438,000 EGF receptors per cell, one-half maximal growth inhibition occurred at 5 and 3 ng/ml TP40, respectively. Following a 72-h incubation in T3M4 and COLO 357 human pancreatic cancer cells, one-half maximal growth inhibition occurred at 0.2 and 0.4 ng/ml TP40, respectively. This effect was significantly greater than that of native Pseudomonas exotoxin A. These findings indicate that human pancreatic cancer cells are markedly sensitive to the growth inhibitory effects of TP40 and raise the possibility that TP40 may have a therapeutic role in this disorder.
Pancreas 1996 Jul
PMID:Cytotoxic effects of TGF-alpha-Pseudomonas exotoxin A fusion protein in human pancreatic carcinoma cells. 878 29

A variant human epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor (HER) with a transition (G to A) at codon 497, resulting in a substitution of a lysine for an arginine, was recently demonstrated in several human pancreatic cancer cell lines. In the present study, we compared the frequency of expression of wild-type (HER497R) and variant (HER497K) EGF receptors in normal and malignant pancreatic tissue samples using single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis. Both receptors were expressed in normal (42%) and malignant (46%) tissues. Three samples (two normal and one cancer) expressed only HER497K. The cancer sample that was homozygous for HER497K exhibited strong EGF receptor immunoreactivity. The high frequency of HER497K expression suggests that it is due to a relatively common polymorphism in the HER coding region. Its presence in some of the cancer samples suggests that, like the wild-type receptor, HER497K also has a role in pancreatic cancer.
Pancreas 1996 Apr
PMID:Single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis of the epidermal growth factor receptor at codon 497. 883 Mar 26

HER-2/neu expression in pancreatic adenocarcinoma has been inconsistently reported and has not been fully evaluated with respect to histologic grade and tumor grade heterogeneity. We studied HER-2/neu expression in a series of 79 primary pancreatic carcinomas using immunohistochemical methods, with expression scored for each histologic grade represented in each tumor. We found significantly lower expression of HER-2/neu in poorly differentiated (PD) portions of tumors-those areas lacking glandular differentiation-compared to well-differentiated (WD) and moderately differentiated (MD) portions of tumors. Forty-two of 68 (62%) invasive tumors with WD or MD glands showed moderate or strong expression of HER-2/neu in WD/MD areas; only 6 of 32 (19%) invasive tumors with PD areas showed similar expression in PD. In mutually exclusive patient sets, we also found a statistically different prevalence of HER-2/neu expression in patients with PD (6/32 cases; 19%) and without PD (29/47 cases; 62%) tumors (p < 0.001). Twenty-three cases had directly comparable areas of PD versus MD or WD. In 19 of 23 cases HER-2/neu expression was graded comparatively lower (or negative) in areas of PD than in MD or WD. Overall 46 of 79 cases (58%) showed moderate to strong HER-2/neu expression inclusive of all histologic grades, and 63 of 79 (80%) cases were HER-2/neu positive, if including weak or focal staining. There was no significant difference in the survival of patients with HER-2/neu-positive versus-negative tumors or in patients with versus without PD tumors. We have confirmed that although HER-2/neu gene expression is common to many pancreatic carcinomas, it is not common to tumors lacking glandular differentiation. HER-2/neu gene expression could not be related to survival differences--perhaps due to overall poor survival within adenocarcinomas of the pancreas--but the pattern of HER-2/neu expression suggests a relationship to glandular differentiation and early oncogenesis.
Pancreas 1997 Apr
PMID:HER-2/neu expression in pancreatic adenocarcinoma: relation to tumor differentiation and survival. 909 52

This recent symposium featured speakers from several clinical and research disciplines. Among the findings: peptic ulcer disease is a significant predisposing risk factor (odds ratio = 3.9) for pancreatic cancer; as many as 50% of all intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms are associated with invasive adenocarcinomas; alteration of gene expression via methylation of a gene promotor region constitutes a potentially reversible method of tumor suppressor gene inactivation; > 400 transcriptional alterations of gene expression have been identified for pancreatic cancer; some common molecular markers such as p53 and HER-2/neu may be related to morphologic alterations of in situ neoplasia and to transcriptional alterations of gene expression rather than mutational events; epidermal growth factor (EGF), transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta), and related molecules may modulate gene transcription via "autocrine" or "paracrine" mechanisms; several cytokines, amylin (islet amyloid polypeptide), and other cachexia factors are responsible for paraneoplastic peripheral insulin resistance, ineffective utilization of glucose, and profound cachexia. In the clinical diagnostic arena: the World Health Organization established a standard nomenclature for intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms, mucinous cystic tumors, intraductal mucinous hyperplasias, and solid pseudopapillary tumors; focal glandular differentiation may be commonly identified within pancreatic endocrine neoplasms (islet cell tumors) while not necessarily implying an unfavorable prognosis typical of ductal adenocarcinomas; positron emission tomography scanning may be used for evaluation of early tumor response to novel chemotherapeutic regimens; helical computed tomography (CT) is the state of the art in preoperative imaging for pancreatic cancer; neoadjuvant 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-based chemoradiation in 39 "resectable" patients provided a median survival of 19 months, actuarial 4-year survival of 19%, and improved local tumor control; gemcitabine has shown promise in alleviating tumor-related symptoms with a significantly better "clinical benefit response" than single agent 5-FU (23.8 vs. 4.8%, p = 0.0022) based on change in pain intensity, daily analgesic consumption, performance status, and weight; a significant survival advantage was demonstrated in patients treated with conventional therapies whose tumors expressed p21WAF-1, an important inhibitor of cell cycle progression and downstream molecule of p53 and TGF-beta; a p21-adenovirus (rAD-p21) gene therapy resulted in significant growth inhibition of pancreatic cancer cell lines in tissue culture, and development of a successful SCID mouse-human pancreatic adenocarcinoma xenograft model provided an animal model for preclinical trials of rAD-p21.
Pancreas 1998 Nov
PMID:Current concepts in pancreatic cancer: symposium summary. 982 Nov 73