An immunohistochemical study of HER2 expression in primary brain tumors

BACKGROUND: Primary brain tumors (PBTs) include any tumor in the brain whose prognosis is weak because of their histological characteristics. AIM: Herein, this study aimed to assess the HER2 tumor marker frequency in PBTs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was done on the samples of primary brain tumor diagnosis from 2008 to 2015. RESULTS: Out of 107 patients of brain tumor that had a mean age of 40.4 years (61.7% men), the most common location of the tumor was in the supratentorial region (63.85% cases). The prevalence of high-grade astrocytoma (HGA) and low-grade astrocytoma (LGA) at diagnosis was 43.9% and 37.4%, respectively. With regard to HER2 score, HER2-positive (scores 2 & 3) was in 42.1% of patients. On the other hand, HER2-negative (−) was in 57.9%, 2+ in 33.6%, and 3+ in 8.4% of patients. The patients of LGA had significantly younger ages, lower HER2 positivity, and lower HER2 percent compared with the HGA patients. CONCLUSIONS: The type of brain tumors can impact on HER2 expression that high HER2 expression in HGA may be helpful for therapeutic aims. Further studies are required to support these results with a higher volume of patients in the world.