Correlation and meta-analysis of HER2 in each stage of breast cancer

Abstract

Human Epidermal growth Receptor 2 (HER2) plays an essential role in the pathogenesis of breast cancer. Previous studies have shown that HER 2 overexpression is associated with a higher histological tumor grade. Furthermore, the overexpression of HER 2 is associated with miRNAs expression. However, the interaction of HER2 and miRNAs in each stage of breast cancer remain unclear. The objective of this study is to identify the relationship between HER2 and miRNAs expression in each stage of breast cancer. Thirteen miRNAs were selected based on literature evidence that showed their interaction with the overexpression of HER 2. The correlation and meta-analysis were done by using the R programming language. The result of this study showed hsa-mir-10b has the highest correlation value in stage two and three breast cancer. On the other hand, hsa-let-7f-2 has the highest correlation value in stage one breast cancer. The result of meta-analysis also showed a significant level of p-value (0.007). These results indicate the downregulation miRNAs only occur in a specific stage of breast cancer.