Her2/neu and ki-67 as prognostic factors in serous type ovarian carcinoma

Abstract

Introduction: Serous type ovarian carcinoma occurs in about 59% of all ovary’s malignant tumors. The high incidence of advanced ovarian carcinoma at the time of diagnosis causes 5-year survival rate of only about 20%. Thus deep science in predictive biomarkers of prognosis is needed, which later could use in therapeutic considerations. Human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2/neu) is a proto-oncogene that is involved in cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. Ki-67 is a marker of proliferative activity that plays an essential role in tumor aggressiveness. This study aimed to prove that HER2/neu and Ki-67 have a role as a prognostic factor in serous type ovarian carcinoma. Methods: The study design was an analytic cross-sectional study, with total sample were 36 samples from the patient’s surgery specimen of serous type ovarian carcinoma, examined at Anatomical Pathology Laboratory Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Udayana/Sanglah General Hospital, Denpasar. Histopathological diagnosis for the type of malignancy, grade, and pathological stage according to tumor size was determined on H & E stain. The expression of HER2/neu and Ki-67 was examined with immunohistochemical stain. The correlation between HER2/neu and Ki-67 expression with the degree of differentiation and tumor size was analyzed by the chi-square test, with p<0.05 was significant. Result: The mean of the age was 49.6 ± 11.28, with range was between 26-64 years. The most were in the age group 51-60 years (38.9%). No significant correlation was found between HER2/neu expression with the degree of differentiation (α =0.178) and tumor size (α =0.264). A significant correlation was found between Ki-67 expression with the degree of differentiation (α =0.019) and tumor size (α =0.039). Conclusion: In this study, Ki-67 can be considered for its role as a prognostic factor, whereas HER2/neu requires further research, with a larger sample and followed by an examination of gene amplification.