PURPOSE Lung adenocarcinoma presenting as malignant pleural effusion (MPE) is common in Taiwan. Microscopically, the involved pleurae are infiltrated by numerous tumor foci, which suggests that the cancer cells are highly invasive. Overexpression of HER-2/neu has been related to proliferation, antiapoptosis, and the high invasiveness of various cancer cells. We therefore were interested in stud...

BACKGROUND HER-2/neu overexpression appears to be associated with improved response to anthracycline-based chemotherapy, but its association with response to taxane-based chemotherapy is unclear. In this retrospective subset analysis of patients with metastatic breast cancer enrolled in a randomized treatment trial, we investigated the response of patients with known HER-2/neu status to treatme...

PURPOSE High-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell transplantation (HDCT) produces a high tumor response rate for patients with metastatic breast cancer and have 20% long-term progression-free survival. Overexpression of HER-2/neu oncoprotein predicts outcome in patients with breast cancer given standard-dose chemotherapy. Therefore, we evaluated whether the HER-2/neu overexpression in th...

We generated DNA expression vectors encoding the full-length neu cDNA (designated pNeuN), the neu extracellular domain (pNeuE), or the neu extracellular and transmembrane domains (pNeuTM). The 293 cells transfected with pNeuN or pNeuTM expressed the neu extracellular domain on the surface membrane, whereas 293 cells transfected with pNeuE secreted the extracellular domain of neu into the cultur...

Testing for HER2/neu in breast cancer at the time of primary diagnosis is now the standard of care. Accurate and standardized testing methods are of prime importance to ensure the proper classification of the patient's HER2/neu status. A meeting of pathologists from across Canada was convened to update the Canadian HER2/neu testing guidelines. This National HER2/neu Testing Committee reviewed t...

The purpose of this study was to determine relationship between HER-2/neu status and estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, grade and age by comparing fluorescence in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. One hundred invasive breast carcinomas were reviewed and fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis was performed in all cases. Immunohistochemical scores showed a perfect concordan...

Trastuzumab is used for breast cancer patients with high expression levels of HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2)/neu; however, it has no effect on cancers with low levels of HER2/neu. SM (solamargine), a major steroidal alkaloid glycoside purified from Solanum incanum, triggered apoptosis of breast cancer cells (MCF-7 and SK-BR-3 cells) and non-cancerous breast epithelial cells (HB...