Abstract
Oncogene amplification is a manifestation of genetic instability, which has been implicated in the pathogenesis of many cancers. Work performed in this laboratory has focused on HER-2/neu amplification in breast cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer and rhabdomyosarcoma, all of which revealed HER-2/neu amplification in at least a proportion of tumors. In the present project, we studied HER-2/neu oncogene amplification in prostate carcinoma, 244,000 new cases of which are diagnosed yearly, and which affects a significant number of men. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) using the Vysis HER-2/neu probe with a chromosome 17 centromere control probe was performed on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded archival prostate cancer tissues. Out of a total of 85 cases studied, 7 cases (8.2%) were found to be amplified. Of those 7 amplified cases, 2 were also trisomic for chromosome 17. Amplification is defined as a signal ratio of HER-2/neu to chromosome 17 of >1.5, after Mark et al. (1998). Clinicopathologic characteristics of the amplified cases versus the nonamplified cases will be compared. Although the results of the present study still need to be confirmed and extended by additional cases in other centers, the data thus far do indicate that a small subset of prostate cancer is characterized by HER-2/neu gene amplification, as in other cancers. (This study was partially funded by Vysis, Inc., Downers Grove, IL).
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Mark, H., Feldman, D., Das, S. et al. HER-2/neu oncogene amplification in prostate cancer. Genet Med 1, 47 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1097/00125817-199901000-00029
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/00125817-199901000-00029