These findings support the development of EGFR/HER2 targeted therapies in androgen-independent prostate cancer and demonstrate, using a carefully characterized patient cohort, that the EGFR/HER2 pathway may represent one of a number of independent routes to hormone escape in prostate cancer.
Immunohistochemical testing was performed to investigate HER-2/neu expression in 81 patients with prostate cancer, including 31 with pathological stage C disease treated with radical prostatectomy without preoperative androgen ablation therapy (untreated group), 30 with pathological stage C disease treated before surgery with androgen ablation therapy (treated group) and 20 with advanced androgen independent prostate cancer (androgen independent group).