Abstract
BACKGROUND: Meningiomas are common slow-growing primary central nervous system tumors that arise from the meningothelial cells of the arachnoid and spinal cord. Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) or HER2/neu (also known as c-erbB2) is a 185-kD transmembrane glycoprotein with tyrosine kinase activity expressed in meningiomas and various other tumors. It can be used in targeted therapy for HER2/neu positive meningiomas. AIM: To correlate the expression of HER2/neu protein in meningiomas with gender, location, histological subtypes, and grade. MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was 3(1/2) years prospective (March 2010-October 2011) and retrospective (May 2008-February 2010) study of histopathologically diagnosed intracranial and intraspinal meningiomas. Clinical details of all the cases were noted from the computerized hospital information system. Immunohistochemistry for HER2/neu protein was performed along with scoring. Statistical analysis was done using Chi-square test to look for any association of HER2/neu with gender, location, grade, and various histological subtypes of meningiomas at 5% level of significance. RESULTS: A total of 100 cases of meningiomas were found during the study period. Of which, 80 were Grade I, 18 were Grade II, and 2 were Grade III meningiomas as per the World Health Organization 2007 criteria. The female-male ratio was 1.9:1 and the mean age was 47.8 years. HER2/neu protein was expressed in 75% of Grade I and 72.2% of Grade II and none of Grade III meningiomas. About 72.7% brain invasive meningiomas showed HER2/neu immunopositivity. CONCLUSION: HER2/neu protein was expressed in 73% of meningiomas. Statistically significant difference of HER2/neu expression was not seen between females and males of Grade I and Grade II/III meningiomas, intracranial and spinal tumors, Grade I and Grade II/III cases, and various histological subtypes of meningiomas.
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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License, which
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