Molecular Targeting of Her-2/neu Protein Is Not Recommended as an Adjuvant Therapy in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Oral Lichen Planus

Target therapy against molecular markers of EGFR family has been recently used in the treatment protocol of several diseases. However, the role of Her-2/neu in OSCC is a matter of controversy and more studies are required to clarify the role of Her-2/neu in OSCC. We aimed to investigate the role of Her-2/neu in the process of carcinogenesis in oral epithelium as ELP is a premalignant and OSCC is a malignant lesion, but RLP shows no evidence of premalignancy and malignancy.To our Knowledge, this is the first study comparing Her-2/neu expression in erosive lichen planus (ELP), reticular lichen planus (RLP), and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).
60 samples, including 20 cases of RLP, 20 cases of ELP, and 20 cases of OSCC were evaluated immunohistochemically in this study.
Our findings showed that there was not a significant increase in Her-2/neu expression from RLP to ELP and from ELP to OSCC. Therefore, Her-2/neu had no role in differentiating between RLP, ELP and OSCC and this protein does not contribute to the process of carcinogenesis in the oral epithelium.
The lack of Her-2/neu overexpression indicates that molecular targeting of Her-2/neu protein is not recommended as an adjuvant therapy in OSCC and OLP.