Overexpression/amplification of HER-2/neu is uncommon in invasive carcinoma of the uterine cervix.

The aim of this study was to investigate HER-2/neu (c-erbB2) overexpression/amplification in carcinoma of the uterine cervix using immunohistochemistry and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) to assess whether anti-p185c-erbB2 therapy might have potential benefits in patients with advanced invasive cervical carcinoma. The authors used a protocol for p185c-erbB2 immunohistochemistry (clone CB11) that has been previously calibrated using FISH as the gold standard, showing a 98% accuracy rate in a large series of breast carcinomas. Immunolabeling for p185c-erbB2 was present in 24 of 82 (29%) of the tumors, but only 2 tumors (2%) with a labeling of more than 60% of the cells were considered positive for overexpression. FISH analysis did not find HER-2/neu gene amplification in these cases, although five other tumors showed weak and/or focal immunolabeling. There was no correlation between the presence of immunolabeling and age, histologic type, or clinical stage. Overexpression/amplification of HER-2/neu is uncommon in invasive cervical carcinoma, suggesting that there is little indication for using anti-p185c-erbB2 therapy in the treatment of these patients.