c-erbB-2 oncogene expression in ovarian cancer

One hundred and four common epithelial malignancies of the ovary were stained for c‐erbB‐2 using an affinity‐purified polyclonal antibody 21N. Twenty‐three out of 104 (22·1 per cent) showed cytoplasmic staining alone. Nine out of 104 (8·7 per cent) showed both membrane and cytoplasmic staining. In a multivariate Cox analysis with other known risk factors the relative risk for cytoplasmic staining alone was 1·456 (χ2=1·71, P>0·1) and for membrane and cytoplasmic staining 0·316 (χ2=7·95, P < 0·005). These results do not support an adverse prognostic effect of c‐erbB‐2 in our patients.