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

Medulloblastoma accounts for 20 to 25% of all intracranial neoplasms in children. The significance of the presence of isochromosome 17q (i(17q)), proliferative potential, apoptotic activity, and expression of c-erbB-2, bd-2, and p53 proteins in predicting long-term survival of patients with medulloblastomas was investigated. Twenty children were divided into two groups (favorable and poor outcome groups). Ten children with favorable outcome (FO) were disease-free during the follow-up period (median: 61.5 months). The other ten children with poor outcome (PO) died of disease progression, having a median survival of 18 months. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) for i(17q), terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL), and immunohistochemistry for Ki-67, c-erbB-2, bcl-2, and p53 proteins was performed in these patients. Nine out of 17 children showed i(17q). There was no difference in the rate of positive i(17q) between the FO and PO groups. The presence of i(17q) was not significantly related to biological factors that we investigated. Unlike the prominent presence of the proliferative potential and p53 expression in children with PO, apoptotic activity and expression of c-erbB-2 and bcl-2 had no correlation with the outcome.
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PMID:The effect of isochromosome 17q presence, proliferative and apoptotic indices, expression of c-erbB-2, bcl-2 and p53 proteins on the prognosis of medulloblastoma. 1098 96

Overactivation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling has been recognized as an important step in the pathogenesis and progression of multiple forms of cancer of epithelial origin. Reports regarding EGFR family members in brain tumors are sparse and, thus, the significance of EGFR expression in childhood brain tumors is unclear. In this study, the expression of the EGFR family members was analyzed in 22 medulloblastomas. During the immunohistochemical study, a sensitive, four-step, alkaline phosphatase conjugated antigen detection technique was employed. The results demonstrated the presence of c-erbB-2 (HER-2) and c-erbB-4 (HER-4) in 10 to 50% of the neoplastic cells of high-grade glial tumors with high immunoreactivity, while c-erbB-3 (HER-3) was only detected in less than 10% of the neoplastically-transformed cells. In a follow-up, 70% of children, usually under 4 years of age, with c-erbB-2 (HER-2)-positive MEDs/PNETs, succumbed to the cancer. The Kaplan-Meier estimation revealed a significant correlation between c-erbB-2 expression and survival (p = 0.002), suggesting that c-erbB-2 (HER-2) is probably a prognostic marker for limited survival. Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor that occurs during childhood. Multimodality treatment regimens have substantially improved survival in this disease; however, the tumor is incurable in about one-third of patients with medulloblastoma, and the current treatment has a detrimental effect on long-term survivors. As such, the results of this study further support the idea that targeting EGFR alone, or in combination with its downstream mediators, represents a promising new approach for the management of childhood brain tumors. Moreover, c-erbB-2 (HER-2) expression may also be of use in better classifying brain tumors.
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PMID:Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression in childhood brain tumors. 1609 49