A study of human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) in carcinoma esophagus (Single Institutional Tertiary Cancer Centre study from Northeast part of India)

Abstract

Objectives: Esophageal cancer both squamous cell (SCC) and adenocarcinoma have poor outcomes with high morbidity and mortality. Our hospital-based registry for the year 2017–2018 showed that esophageal cancer constituted 22.7% of the annual caseload. The main objective of this study was to determine the presence of HER-2 receptors in patients with esophageal carcinoma in our region. Material and Methods: From September 2018 to September 2019, data regarding the expression of HER-2 receptors was analyzed in 133 patients of esophageal carcinoma. Data were statistically described as frequencies (number of cases) and percentages where appropriate. Chi-square and Fischer’s exact test was used to find out the association between categorical variables. A P < 0.05 was considered as statistical significant at 95% confidence interval. The statistical analysis was performed using SSPS software version 17.0. Results: A total of 133 patients were taken into study. The majority of patients were males (96) with a mean age of 52 years. Squamous cell carcinoma was predominant histology. HER-2 receptor positivity was seen in 6.01% of patients. Patients with HER-2 receptor positivity presented in advanced stage with poor functional status and poor grades of differentiation. Statistically significant correlation of Her-2 expression was seen with stage (P = 0.001) and pathology of tumor (P = 0.0001). Conclusion: Squamous cell carcinoma of esophagus still predominates in Northeast part of India. For studying the role of effective targeted therapies, knowledge of frequency of HER-2 receptor positivity is of utmost importance in our population and our study aims to answer this question. The present study shows a low prevalence of HER-2 neu overexpression in our community, probably due to the disproportionately high incidence of SCC compared to adenocarcinoma. Patients with HER-2 receptor positivity presented in advanced stage with poor functional status and poor grades of differentiation.