Aberrant expression of the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 oncogene is not a common feature in osteosarcoma

Comparative review of human and canine osteosarcoma: morphology, epidemiology, prognosis, treatment and genetics

“…In humans, the literature often has conflicting data on the significance of particular markers. For example, the human epidermal growth factor 2 oncogene (HER-2) has been suggested in some reports to have prognostic significance, though further study is required to definitively confirm this [ 94 – 96 ]. Epidermal growth factor has been evaluated in dogs, whilst expressed in primary and metastatic tumour cells, it has not been shown to be an effective prognostic marker clinically [ 97 ].…”

“…This has also been associated with prognosis canine OSA [ 101 ]. Strong expression of CXCL-12 is also associated with a more favourable outcome in humans with OSA [ 96 ]. The significance of CXCL-12 expression has yet to be investigated in dogs.…”

HER2/neu: an increasingly important therapeutic target. Part 2: Distribution of HER2/neu overexpression and gene amplification by organ, tumor site and histology

“…With the exception of osteosarcoma [272][273][274][275][276][277][278][279][280][281][282][283][284][285][286][287], synovial sarcoma [287][288][289][290][291], rhabdomyosarcoma [292][293][294], carcinosarcoma, and mixed Müllerian tumors, the latter two originating in the gynecologic tract that will be discussed below, there is no consistent evidence of HER2/neu expression or overexpression in the common soft tissue sarcomas [295][296][297][298][299][300][301][302][303][304]. HER2/neu is overexpressed in >40% of osteosarcomas [275,305], but is not a valid target in Ewings sarcoma [299,304,306] (consistent with the data above pertaining to lack of HER2/neu expression or overexpression in peripheral neuroendocrine tissues and tumors), chondrosarcomas or desmoid tumors [307].…”

“…There is a single, remote, unconfirmed report of non-AIDs related Kaposi's sarcoma having significant HER2/neu expression [308]. There is a very significant degree of cytoplasmic rather than membranous expression of HER2/neu in osteosarcoma and synovial sarcoma [283][284][285][286][287][288], probably accounting for some, if not all, of the discordance in reports of HER2/neu expression, similar to that described in colorectal adenocarcinomas [137,146]. Nevertheless, there have been two meta-analyses examining the literature regarding HER2/neu expression and prognosis in osteosarcoma that have concluded that there is substantial evidence for expression and that this expression is probably a poor prognostic factor [309,310].…”