Sadia Qureshi, Mir Ahmad M Zamir, Muhammad Tahir Aziz, SADIA QURESHI.
Serum levels of HER2/NEU ECD in women with carcinoma of the breast and its correlation with body mass index.
J Allama Iqbal Med Coll Jan ;6(4):20-6.

Background: Carcinoma of the breast is a disease of complex etiology and is discussed in terms of risk factors which include increasing age, increased exposure to estrogen, over weight and obesity etc. Efforts are being made to get more and more insight of the etiology to decrease its occurrence, for early diagnosis and to have good prognosis. Recent advances in molecular biology have highlighted numerous tumor-associated markers which are being used to determine the progression of the disease, its prognosis and to see the response of therapy. The most promising of these is Her2/neu proto-oncogene. Over-expression of Her2/neu causes unregulated cell growth in Breast Carcinoma. Her2/neu positive tumors are more aggressive, difficult to treat, resistant to therapy and have poor prognosis. The main objective of the study was to determine the serum levels of Her2/neu and to assess its correlation with body mass index (BMI >25 kg/m2) in female patients with carcinoma of the breast and healthy over-weight and obese females. Methods: Serum levels of 30 healthy and 60 CA breast females were analyzed for Her2/neu ECD and were correlated with their BMI. Levels were estimated by ELISA and correlation was calculated by regression analysis and correlation coefficient. Results: It was observed that the increased BMI is an important risk factor for carcinoma of the breast. Serum levels of Her2/neu were not more than 11.8ug/L in controls. Forty five percent of the cases were found to have raised Her2/neu levels (previous studies reported 30 - 40%). Serum levels of Her2/neu were not found to be correlated to BMI. Conclusion: It is concluded that obesity remains an important risk factor for carcinoma of the breast. Normal serum level of Her2/neu is not more than 11.8ug/L. Serum levels of Her2 ECD and BMI are not correlated with each other.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com