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her2 is a marker of tumors which have been found to be more agressive, have an easier time metastasizing and tend to have less hormonal receptors, and , thus, be more resistant to tamoxifen. It is actually one of a class of growth factor receptors.
ki67 is felt to be an indicator of proliferation rate. Thus there could be some her2neu positive tumors with higher ki67s than others, and those would be faster proliferating.
p53 I would have to review. It is a marker which is found in a lot of different tumors. I know a family that had an NK TCELL lymphoma, an alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma and a developmental problem in a grandchild associated with a high rate of cancer, all of which had p53 markers.
It is an independent problem.
There are many pathways to make a cell lose its ability to differentiate and start multiplying out of control. We are just starting to learn about them--but with computers, gene arrays, pcr and other techniques our understanding is increasing at a speed unheard of in the history of mankind. Never fast enough however!
Hope this helped,
Lani
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