# Overexpression of the HER2/neu gene: a new therapeutic possibility for patients with advanced gallbladder cancer

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-roa-her2-overexpression-gallbladder-gcr-2014/  
OnCo record `paper-roa-her2-overexpression-gallbladder-gcr-2014` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

In 187 Chilean gallbladder cancers stained with breast cancer rules, about one in eight overexpressed HER2, one in five was borderline, and the HER2-positive patients did slightly worse, an early argument for HER2 drugs in this disease.

## Summary

187 patients with gallbladder cancer (165 women, 22 men) with at least five years of follow-up and 75 controls were studied with an automated immunohistochemical technique using an anti-ErbB2 antibody, scored by the CAP/ASCO criteria for breast cancer.

Overexpression of HER2/neu was observed in 12.8% of cases (0% mucosal, 14.3% muscular, 12.8% subserosal and 10.6% serosal tumours) and equivocal staining in 20%. Overexpression was more frequent in advanced and in better-differentiated tumours (13.8% and 17.4%), not significantly. Patients with overexpression had worse five-year survival than those without (34% versus 41%). The authors concluded that overexpression occurred in 14% of advanced cases and that this subgroup might benefit from HER2 pathway inhibitors.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-24
- Journal: Gastrointestinal Cancer Research
- Year: 2014
- Authors: Roa I, de Toro G, Schalper K, et al.
- Findings: HER2 overexpression in 12.8% of 187 Chilean gallbladder cancers; equivocal staining in 20%.; Overexpression absent in mucosal tumours, 14.3% in muscular, 12.8% in subserosal, 10.6% in serosal.; Five-year survival 34% with overexpression versus 41% without.
- What it means: The largest Chilean HER2 series and the reason HER2 rates in the highest-incidence country are quoted at around 13%; scoring by breast rather than gastric rules explains part of the gap to the Japanese 31%.
- Caveats: Immunohistochemistry only, no in situ hybridisation, so the 20% equivocal group is unresolved.; No DOI; PubMed record only.

## Sources

- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24799970/

## Connected records

- cancers: [Gallbladder cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/gallbladder/)
- targets: [HER2](https://onco.cc/targets/her2/)
- terms: [HER2 testing in biliary tract cancer (IHC, ISH and NGS)](https://onco.cc/terms/her2-testing-in-biliary-cancer/), [Immunohistochemistry (IHC)](https://onco.cc/terms/ihc/)

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