Cho JH, et al. - The clinicians aimed to examine human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2) overexpression and to validate its prognostic effect in stage II-III gastric cancer. Inferior overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were observed in HER2-positive patients. For targeted therapies involving trastuzumab, stage II-III HER2-positive patients could be potential candidates.

Methods

• From March 2008 and October 2013, the clinicians reviewed the data of patients who were diagnosed with gastric cancer at the Yonsei University Medical Center.
• They retrospectively examined 384 patients who met the inclusion criteria, among these patients.

Results

• Out of the 384 stage II-III gastric cancer patients, 32 (8.3%) exhibited HER2 overexpression.
• In this study, the median follow-up duration was 26.0 mo.
• Superior recurrence-free survival (RFS) was observed in HER2-negative patients compared to HER2-positive patients (HR = 0.52, 95%CI: 0.30-0.89; P=0.015).
• In the HER2-negative group, the median overall survival (OS) was significantly prolonged compared with the HER2-positive group (55.0 mo vs 38.0 mo, HR = 0.43, 95%CI: 0.21-0.88, P=0.021).
• Furthermore, OS was prolonged in HER2-negative patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy than HER2-positive patients (55.0 vs 38.0 mo, HR = 0.42, 95%CI: 0.18-1.00, P=0.051).
• The median RFS was prolonged in the HER2-negative group compared to the HER2-positive group (not reached vs 12.0 mo, HR = 0.17, 95%CI: 0.06-0.49, P=0.001) in patients who did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy.
• Independent predictors of OS were HER2 status (HR = 0.421, 95%CI: 0.206-0.861, P=0.018) and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (HR = 2.002, 95%CI: 1.530-2.618, P < 0.001) in a multivariate analysis.