Journal of Cancer Therapy, 2012, 3, 787-792
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jct.2012.325099 Published Online October 2012 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/jct)
787
Association between Overexpression of Her-2 and Other
Clinicopathologic Prognostic Factors in Breast Cancer in
Morocco*
Zineb Bouchbika#, Nadia Benchakroun, Amina Taleb, Hassan Jouhadi, Nezha Tawfiq,
Souha Sahraoui, Abdellatif Benider
Department of Radiotherapy Oncology, Ibn Rochd University Hospital and Hassan II University, Casablanca, Morocco.
Received August 9th, 2012; revised September 12th, 2012; accepted September 22nd, 2012
ABSTRACT
Background: Breast cancer is the leading cancer among women. The management depends largely on the knowledge
of prognostic factors. The aim of our study is to evaluate the overexpression of Her-2/neu in patients with invasive
breast carcinoma in Morocco, and to study the association between this overexpression and otherprognostic factors of
breast cancer, such as age, tumor size, tumor grade, hormone receptors, vascular space invasion and lymph node status.
Methods: This is a transversal study in which we included patients with invasive breast carcinomas treated at Univer-
sity Hospital Ibn Rochd of Casablanca in radiotherapy-oncology departement between January 2008 and December
2010, having had surgery first. Univariate analysis (Chi 2 test and Student’s test) and multivariate (logistic regression)
were performed to study this association. Results: The overexpression of Her-2/neu was found in 29.2% of cases. In
univariate analysis, Her-2 positive status was significantly correlated with high-grade tumors and large, to a lymph node,
vascular space invasion and negative ER/PR. Age alone does not appear as a factor associated with positive Her-2/neu
status. In multivariate analysis, the overexpression of Her 2 was significantly associated only with vascular space inva-
sion, high tumor grade and the negativity of estrogen receptors. Conclusion: In our series, only the high grade, the vas-
cular space invasion and the negative hormone receptors are independent factors associated with overexpression of
Her-2/neu. Age does not appear as a factor associated with positive Her-2/neu status.
Keywords: Breast Cancer; Her-2/Neu; Prognosis Factors
1. Background
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women with
more than a million new cases per year worldwide, repre-
senting 22% of all cancers diagnosed in women [1]. It is
the leading cause of cancer death worldwide with over
370,000 deaths per year, or 14% of cancer deaths in
women [2].
Breast cancer is characterized by great diversity in
clinical expression and histological forms of the disease.
Several prognostic factors are defined: we distinguish
classical prognostic factors, or first-generation and newer
prognostic factors such as oncogene Her 2 (human epi-
dermal growth factor receptor 2).
The HER-2 gene encodes a 185 kDa transmembrane
phosphoglycoprotein with tyrosine kinase activity and is
a member of the human epidermal growth factor receptor
gene family [3]. Her-2/neu (c-erbB-2) gene amplification,
which usually results in overexpression of the encoded
transmembrane protein, occurs in approximately 20% to
30% of invasive breast cancers [4-9]. Cells transfected
with HER-2/neu acquire a more malignant phenotype,
with stimulation of cell proliferation, invasion, and me-
tastasis [10]. This has been confirmed in the clinic:
women with HER-2/neu positive breast cancer have a
worse prognosis than those with HER-2/neu negative
cancers [11-14].
Several controversies available in the literature re-
garding the correlation between protein overexpression
Her 2/neu and other prognosis factors. In our context,
there is no data regarding this correlation.The aim of our
study is to evaluate the overexpression of Her-2/neu in
patients with invasive breast carcinoma in Morocco, and
to study the association between this overexpression and
other prognostic factors of breast cancer: age, tumor size,
histological grade, hormone receptors, vascular space
invasion and lymph node.
*Conflict of interest: all authors have no conflicts of interest.
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Association between Overexpression of Her-2 and other Clinicopathologic Prognostic Factors
in Breast Cancer in Morocco
788
2. Methods
This is a transversal study in which we included patients
with invasive breast carcinomas treated at Ibn Rochd
University Hospital of Casablanca in the department of
radiotherapy-oncology between January 2008 and De-
cember 2010. Concerning the inclusion criteria, medical
records were reviewed retrospectively: patients treated
for relapse or who have received neoadjuvant chemo-
therapy, and medical records with missing data on the
tumor characteristics were excluded. Our study con-
cerned the only cases for which we had complete infor-
mation about the patient and the tumor.
The following factors were studied: patient age at di-
agnosis, tumor size, tumor grade, vascular space invasion,
axillary lymph node status, extra capsular spread, hor-
mone receptors and Her-2/neu status. The histological
type is specified according to WHO classification of
breast cancer [15] and the histological grading was per-
formed using the modified criteria of Bloom and Rich-
ardson, as described by Elston and Ellis [16].
The hormone receptor status and Her-2/neu was de-
fined by immunohistochemistry. A semi-quantitative histo-
chemical score was used to record results of ER and PR
staining according to the system established by Allred et
al. [17]. This system considers both the proportion and
intensity of stained cells. The intensity score (IS) ranges
from 0 to 3, with 0 being no staining, 1 weak staining, 2
intermediate staining, and 3 intense staining. The propor-
tion score (PS) estimates the proportion of positive tumor
cells and ranges from 0 to 5, with 0 being non-reacting, 1
for 1% reacting tumor cells, 2 for 10% reacting tumor
cells, 3 for one-third reacting tumor cells, 4 for two-
thirds reacting tumor cells, and 5 if 100% of tumor cells
show reactivity. The PS and IS are added to obtain a total
score (TS) that ranges from 0 to 8. Tumor cells with a
total score of 3 to 8 were considered positive, whereas
those with a TS less than 3 were considered negative
cases.
Her-2/neu was scored on a 0 to 3 scale according to
the criteria set by Dako. The staining was scored as:
negative (0) when no membrane staining was observed,
or when membranous staining was observed in less than
10% of the tumor cells; weak positive (1+) if weak focal
membrane staining was seen in more than 10% of the
tumor cells; intermediate (2+) if weak to moderate, com-
plete membrane staining was seen in more than 10% of
the tumor cells; and strongly positive (3+) if intense
membrane staining with weak to moderate cytoplasmic
reactivity was seen in more than 10% of the tumor cells.
In the final analysis, scores 0 and 1 were considered
negative, score 2 was considered weakly positive and
score 3 was considered strongly positive. Only score 3
cases were considered as Her-2 overexpressing cases. In
our study, a FISH or CISH was performed in all patients
with a 2 + score.
We used a univariate and multivariate analysis to
study the correlation between overexpression of Her-2/
neu protein and other clinicopathological prognostic fac-
tors. A descriptive analysis of clinicopathological vari-
ables was performed: the numbers and percentages were
calculated (categorical variables) and the mean +/– stan-
dard deviation (quantitative variables). The Chi-square
test (categorical variables) and Student’s test (quantita-
tive variables) were used to study the association be-
tween Her-2/neu status and other clinicopathological
variables. In multivariate analysis, logistic regression was
used to detect the independent factors correlated with
overexpression of Her 2/neu protein. Statistical analyses
were performed using SPSS. Results were considered
statistically significant if the p value was < 0.05.
The study began after the women agreed themselves to
participate in our study. Patients who refused to partici-
pate in this study were not included.
3. Results
Between January 2008 and December 2010, 2014 pa-
tients with invasive breast carcinoma were treated in our
structure: 1508 patients were selected for this study. Ta-
ble 1 sums up all the clinical and pathological features of
patients in this study, with invasive breast carcinoma
who underwent first surgery.
The mean age of patients was 48.4 years +/–10.6 years.
The percentage of patients aged under 35 was 10.4%.
The majority of tumors was classified as T3 (56.3%), and
40.1% of tumors showed no nodal involvement.
On the therapeutic level, breast conserving surgery
was performed on 28.6% of patients and a systemic
treatment was indicated for 95.2% of patients while ra-
diotherapy was indicated on 90.6% of patients.
Overexpression of the protein Her-2/neu was observed
in 29.2% of patients. The 2 + score was found in 5.3% (79)
of patients: a FISH or CISH was performed demonstrating
a gene amplification in only 24% (19) of patients.
In univariate analysis (Table 2), the Her-2 positive
status was significantly correlated with large and high
graded tumors, with lymph node, in the presence of vas-
cular space invasion and with negative ER/PR. Age alone
does not appear as a factor associated with positive
Her-2/neu status. Extra capsular spread in case of nodal
involvement was also analyzed in our study and proved
to be a factor significantly correlated with HER-2 posi-
tive status. Extra capsular spread was found in 58% of
Her-2 positive patients versus 45% for Her-2 negative
patients (p = 0.0003). The percentage of metastatic patient
at the diagnosis was higher in the HER-2 positive group

Association between Overexpression of Her-2 and other Clinicopathologic Prognostic Factors
in Breast Cancer in Morocco
789
Table 1. Clinicopathological characteristics breast carci-
noma (N = 1508).
Clinicopathological features N %
Age (years)
- ≤35
- >35
157
1341
10.4
89.6
Tumor grade (medullary carcinoma
excluded)
- I + II
- III
1073
409
72.4
27.6
Tumor size
- ≤5 cm
- >5 cm
1240
268
82.2
17.8
Lymph node
- positive
- with extra capsular spread
905
443
60
49
Vascular space invasion
- yes
- No
722
786
47.9
52.1
Her-2/neu status
- positive
- negative
440
1068
29.2
70.8
ER expression
- positive
- negative
929
579
61.6
38.4
PR expression
- positive
- negative
880
628
58.4
44.6
Histologic type
- Ductal
- Non ductal
1370
138
90.8
9.2
Metastatic status
- M0
- M1
1385
123
91.8
8.2
Her2 = human epidermal growth factor receptor 2; ER = estrogen receptor;
PR = progesterone receptor.
compared to the Her-2 negative one: 9.4% versus 7.7%,
but this difference was not statistically significant (p =
0.29).
In multivariate analysis (Table 3), the overexpression
of Her 2 was significantly associated only with the pres-
ence of vascular space invasion, high grade tumor and
with negative oestrogene receptors.
4. Discussion
Breast cancers have a tumoral heterogeneity on the
clinical, histological and molecular level explaining the
diversity of presentations, responses to treatment and of
prognosis. The management of breast cancer depends
largely on the knowledge of prognostic factors. Currently
Table 2. Association between overexpression of Her2 pro-
tein and clinicopathological characteristics (N = 1508): uni-
variate Analysis.
Her-2/neu expression
Clinicopathological
features Positive n (%) Negative N (%)p
Age (years)
- ≤35
- >35
Mean age
51 (11.6)
389 (88.4)
48.1 +/– 10.8
106 (9.9)
962 (90.1)
48.52 +/– 10.5
0.33
0.48
Tumor grade (medullary
carcinoma excluded)
- I + II
- III
288 (66.2)
147 (33.8)
785 (75)
262 (25)
<0.001
Tumor size
- ≤ 5 cm
- >5 cm
343 (78)
97 (22)
897 (84)
171 (16)
0.005
Lymph node
- negative
- positive
157 (35.7)
283 (64.3)
446 (41.8)
622 (58.2)
0.002
Vascular space invasion
- missing
- present
244 (55.5)
196 (44.5)
478 (44.8)
590 (55.2)
<0.001
ER expression
- positive
- negative
221 (50.2)
219 (49.2)
708 (66.3)
360 (33.7)
<0.001
PR expression
- positive
- negative
209 (47.5)
231 (52.5)
671 (62.7)
397 (37.3)
<0.001
Her2 = human epidermal growth factor receptor 2; ER = estrogen receptor;
PR = progesterone receptor.
the prognostic factors of breast cancers can be divided
into first-generation prognostic factors, such as lymph
node status, tumor size, tumor grade, hormonal status and
the second generation prognostic factors among which
the growth factor receptors (Her2). The latter constitute,
with hormonal receptors, prognostic and predictive fac-
tors of response or resistance to therapy (Trastuzumab in
the case of overexpression of the protein Her-2/neu)
[18,19]. These new prognostic and predictive factors of
response to treatment are necessary to distinguish sub-
groups of patients with different biological characteris-
tics and who before appeared homogeneous according to
clinical pathological and classical prognostic factors. The
absence of data in our context concerning the frequency
of overexpression Her 2 and its association with other
prognostic factors motivated this study in order to iden-
tify the prognostic profile of our patients. In 1987, Sla-
mon et al. [11] showed that gene amplification was

Association between Overexpression of Her-2 and other Clinicopathologic Prognostic Factors
in Breast Cancer in Morocco
790
Table 3. Association between overexpression of Her2 pro-
tein and clinicopathological characteristics (N = 1508): mul-
tivariate Analysis.
Clinicopathological features Odds ratio 95% CI p
Age (>35 versus ≤35 years) 1.00 0.99- 1.01 0.87
Tumor size (>5 v ≤5 cm) 1.19 0.88 - 1.600.25
Tumor grade ( III v I - II) 1.28 1.00 - 1.650.05
Vascular space invasion
(present v missing) 1.45 1.15 - 1.830.002
Lymph node (positive v
negative) 1.21 0.95 - 1.540.13
ER expression (positive v
negative) 0.51 0.41 - 0.65<0.001
Her2 = human epidermal growth factor receptor 2; ER = estrogen receptor.
significantly correlated with poor prognosis: early re-
lapse and shorter survival. This correlation persisted after
adjustment for lymph node status and other prognostic
factors in multivariate analysis. In our series, we found
that 29.2% of patients were Her-2positive. Although
there is great variation in the HER-2 overexpression and
gene amplification, our frequency seems to be commonly
accepted within the range from 20 to 30% [4-9]. How-
ever, this frequency remains higher compared to our
neighbors the tunisians where it is 18.1% [20]. The
analysis of the association between overexpression of
Her-2/neu and other prognostic factors revealed the fol-
lowing findings:
In univariate analysis, tumor grade, tumor size, lymph
node involvement, vascular space invasion and negative
estrogen receptors were significantly correlated with
overexpression of the protein Her-2/neu.
While in multivariate analysis, only the tumor grade,
the vascular space invasion and the negative estrogen
receptors appear to be independent factors associated
with protein overexpression Her-2/neu.
Several studies have demonstrated that overexpression
of the protein Her-2/neu was correlated with younger age
[21-26]. Our study did not permit to show this correlation:
11.6% of patients HER-2 positive were younger than 35
years versus 9.9% for Her-2 negative patients but the
difference was not statistically significant. The mean age
of our patients was 48.4 years (+/– 10.6 years) which is
significantly younger than what is currently in Western
considered countries. This can be explained by the young
age of our population [low life expectancy compared to
Western countries] or by the risk factors that may be
specific to our country. Tumor size is an important
prognostic factor that is directly correlated with survival.
Our study showed a statistically significant correlation
between HER-2 status and tumor size in only univariate
analysis. This pattern of overexpression of Her-2 in large
tumors has been demonstrated in other studies [27,28]
while in some studies this association has not been found
[24,29-32]. The prognostic value of grade is currently
established. Hoff et al. demonstrated in their series that
high-grade tumors were more likely to have a positive
HER-2 status as low-grade tumors [33]. Similarly, other
studies have also reported the association between
HER-2 positive status and a high histological grade
[29-31]. This finding was also confirmed in our study.
However, some studies have not demonstrated any cor-
relation between high-grade status and HER-2 positive
[24,34].The axillary lymph node involvement is a major
prognostic factor. Most studies that have examined the
prognostic role of HER-2 in N + patients showed that
amplification of HER-2 gene or overexpression of Her-2/
neu protein is associated with pejorative results whether
in univariate or multivariate analysis [35-37]. Our study
found this association in univariate analysis, but disap-
peared in multivariate analysis. Extra capsular spread and
the vascular space invasion are two parameters that have
been poorly studied in the literature and found to be as-
sociated with overexpression of the protein Her-2/neu in
our study. Despite the vast differences at the levels of the
positivity of the Her-2, all the researchers report an in-
verse correlation between HER-2 status and the hormone
receptors [24,28-30,32,35,38-42]. Our data are consistent
with those reported in the literature.
5. Conclusion
The analysis of HER-2 status is important in the man-
agement of breast cancer because it provides valuable
prognostic, predictive and therapeutic information. In our
study 29.2% of tumors overexpress Her-2/neu. This
number, although in the normal range, is still high com-
pared to other countries. A prospective study with cen-
tralization hercept test in trained laboratory pathology
could more accurately estimate the frequency of overex-
pression of Her-2/neu. In this study, the overexpression
of Her-2 was significantly correlated with tumor size,
tumor grade, lymph node involvement with extra capsu-
lar spread, vascular space invasion and hormone receptor
negativity. Our study did not reveal any association be-
tween HER-2 positive status and young age: perhaps be-
cause the young age of our population with breast cancer
(mean age 48 years) or because of the size of the sample.
Further studies are required to answer this question.
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List of Abbreviations
Her2 = human epidermal growth factor receptor 2;
ER = estrogen receptor;
PR = progesterone receptor.