HER2/neu – A prognostic marker for ovarian carcinoma

Ovarian carcinoma is the 2nd most common gyneacological malignancy and has a poor 5 year survival rate despite available therapies. This study was conducted to evaluate the association of HER2/neu with the clinicopathological features of epithelial ovarian carcinoma. 90 patients were randomly selected according to pre determined inclusion criteria for a prospective observational study with a quantitative correlational study design from November 2018 to October 2019. Mean age of the patients was 53 +/- 8.022 years. 24.4% of the tumors expressed HER2/neu. Overall, 72% patients had platinum sensitive whereas only 20% of the HER2/neu positive patients had platinum sensitive disease.

HER2/neu expression was significantly associated with the grade of the tumor (p 0.040) and pre treatment CA 125 levels (p 0.032) and non significantly associated with improved chemotherapy response (p 0.055). To conclude, our study demonstrated positive association between HER2/neu expression and CA 125 levels and grade of the tumor. However, longer follow up is needed to definately establish HER2/neu as a prognostic marker for ovarian carcinoma.
 

The author (Dr. Sharmin Arif) has completed her fellowship in medical oncology in Jan 2022 and is currently employed as Senior Registrar-Oncology department at a public sector hospital in the punjab district of Pakistan since June 2022. She has conducted various researches in the field of medical oncology particularly in breast and ovarian cancers. She has also published a book chapter for her research in ovarian cancer. Moreover, she is also an editor for various medical journals.