Mohammad Mahdi Hayatbakhsh Abbasi - Assistant Professor, Pathology and Stem Cells Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
Elham Jafari - Gastroenterology and Hepatology Research Center, Institute of Basic and Clinical Physiology Sciences, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
Mohammad Javad Zahedi - Gastroenterology and Hepatology Research Center, Institute of Basic and Clinical Physiology Sciences, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
Sodaif Darvish Moghaddam - Gastroenterology and Hepatology Research Center, Institute of Basic and Clinical Physiology Sciences, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.

Background: In Cancer cells, HER-2/Neu acts as an oncogene. Its overexpression leads to increased protein in the membrane of cancer cells. The role of HER-2/Neu was known in awide variety of cancers such as breast and lung neoplasms. This study aimed to investigate HER-2/Neu expression in gastric cancer by using immunohistochemistry (IHC).Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 48 individuals with gastric cancer who had undergone gastrectomy. After diagnosing gastric cancer byhistologic reports, the specimen were reassessed for HER-2/Neu evaluation. IHC was used to determine HER-2/Neu expression (Biogenax kit, DAKO criteria). Data were analyzedby descriptive and analytical methods and SPSS software version 20. Results: The study cases are comprised of 48 individuals (79.2% male). The average age of cases was 59.93 ±13.95 years. The mean of tumor size was 5.5±2.45 cm. The most common tumor location was antrum and pylorus (43.8%). Intestinal type of gastric cancer was the most common (72.9%). The most of cases were in stage T3 (87.5%). HER-2/Neu positive expression was present in 10.4%, while the majority of cases showed a HER2/Neu-negetive status (89.6%). There was no significant relationship between HER-2/Neu expression and investigated variables (p> 0.05). Conclusions: According to the results of this study, HER-2/Neu expression in gastriccancer was low. More extensive studies are needed

HER-2/Neu, Gastric Cancer, Immunohistochemistry, Gene Expression