Investigation of cerbb2 at mrna level in patients with gastric adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Aim: Gastric adenocarcinomas take place near the top regarding mortality due to cancer. This study aims to validate IHC results with the RT-PCR method and to evaluate their contribution to confirm the absolute score of CerbB2 situation in tissues. Material and Methods: We analyzed 80 gastric adenocarcinoma cases diagnosed in our clinic. The expression characteristics of the cases were evaluated using CerbB2 staining. Simultaneously, CerbB2 expression analyses were performed with the RT-PCR method. Results: Positive immunoreactivity was observed in 19 of 80 cases (23,75%) in the study conducted using CerbB2 antibody. While 14 of these cases (17.5%) demonstrated weak positive (2+), 5 of them (6.25%) demonstrated strong positive (3+) immunoreactivity. With the RT-PCR method, an increase in gene expression was observed in 12 of 14 weak positive cases (75%). In all 5 strong positive cases, on the other hand, high gene expression was determined. Between CerbB2 immunohistochemical findings and gene expression, 89% compatibility and a statistically significant relationship was determined. While an increase in CerbB2 gene expression, determined by Real Tirme PCR method, was not observed in 57 of 61 cases (96.6%) without CerbB2 immunoreactivity, 4 cases had an increase in CerbB2 expression in comparison to normal. In our study, a statistically significant relationship was determined between CerbB2 expression and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) that is a factor blamed for gastric cancer etiology. The relationship between CerbB2 expression and clinicopathologic prognostic factors has been statistically reviewed; no significant results have been found. Discussion: Our study has shown that RT-PCR is a method, which might be an alternative to IHC and in ISH methods. It is concluded that a statistically significant relationship might be determined between CerbB2 expression and clinicopathologic prognostic parameters by increasing the case number.