The role of HER-2/neu expression on the survival of patients with lung cancer: a systematic review of the literature.

Fiche publication


Date publication

septembre 2003

Journal

British journal of cancer

Auteurs

Membres identifiés du Cancéropôle Est :
Pr MASCAUX Céline


Tous les auteurs :
Meert AP, Martin B, Paesmans M, Berghmans T, Mascaux C, Verdebout JM, Delmotte P, Lafitte JJ, Sculier JP

Résumé

C-erbB-2 prognostic value for survival in patients with lung cancer remains controversial. We performed a systematic review of the literature to clarify its impact. Studies were identified by an electronic search in order to aggregate the survival results, after a methodological assessment using the scale of the European Lung Cancer Working Party. To be eligible, a study had to deal with c-erbB-2 assessment in lung cancer patients and to analyse survival according to c-erbB-2 expression. In total, 30 studies were eligible: 24 studies dealt with non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), five with adenocarcinoma and one study dealt with small-cell carcinoma. In all, 31% of the patients were positive for c-erbB-2. According to c-erbB-2 expression, 13 studies were 'negative' (significant detrimental effect on survival), one 'positive' (significant survival improvement) and 16 not significant. Significant studies had a better subscore relative to analysis and results report than nonsignificant studies. In total, 86% of the significant studies and only 56% of the nonsignificant studies were evaluable for the meta-analysis. This suggests a possible bias in our aggregated results. For NSCLC, the hazard ratio was 1.55 (95% CI: 1.29-1.86) in favour of tumours that do not express c-erbB-2. In conclusion, the overexpression of c-erbB-2 might be a factor of poor prognosis for survival in NSCLC, but there is a potential bias in favour of the significant studies with an overestimation risk of the magnitude of the true effect of c-erbB-2 overexpression.

Mots clés

Adenocarcinoma, metabolism, Biomarkers, Tumor, metabolism, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung, metabolism, Carcinoma, Small Cell, metabolism, Humans, Lung Neoplasms, metabolism, Prognosis, Receptor, ErbB-2, metabolism, Sensitivity and Specificity, Survival Rate

Référence

Br. J. Cancer. 2003 Sep 15;89(6):959-65