TY - JOUR
T1 - HER-2/neu assessment in primary chemotherapy treated breast carcinoma
T2 - No evidence of gene profile changing
AU - Dagrada, Gian Paolo
AU - Mezzelani, Alessandra
AU - Alasio, Loredana
AU - Ruggeri, Mario
AU - Romanò, Roberta
AU - Pierotti, Marco A.
AU - Pilotti, Silvana
PY - 2003/7
Y1 - 2003/7
N2 - HER-2/neu protein expression and gene amplification were analyzed in a series of 85 consecutive breast carcinoma patients entered into an adriamicin/taxol primary chemotherapy trial followed by surgery, 45 of whom underwent pre-treatment fine needle aspirate (FNA). Dual color FISH (fluorescent in situ hybridization) assay revealed high-level HER-2/neu gene amplification in the immunocytochemistry (ICC) indicated 3+ cases and no, low or moderate amplification in the ICC 2+ group, consistent with previous findings in untreated patients series. Results obtained with the ICC assay CB 11 showed higher overall concordance with FISH than did the Herceptest ICC assay, but CB 11 was less accurate than Herceptest in terms of selecting patients suitable for Herceptin treatment, which is currently restricted to ICC 3+/FISH amplified patients. The only ICC 3+ low-level amplified case (non-amplified according the two more stringent criteria applied) was found with the CB 11 assay. Comparison between pretreatment smears and post-treatment sections by FISH revealed no significant changes in the HER-2/neu gene profile. In the clinical setting these findings point to the usefulness of HER-2/neu assessment in chemotherapy-treated patients, when pre-treatment material is unavailable.
AB - HER-2/neu protein expression and gene amplification were analyzed in a series of 85 consecutive breast carcinoma patients entered into an adriamicin/taxol primary chemotherapy trial followed by surgery, 45 of whom underwent pre-treatment fine needle aspirate (FNA). Dual color FISH (fluorescent in situ hybridization) assay revealed high-level HER-2/neu gene amplification in the immunocytochemistry (ICC) indicated 3+ cases and no, low or moderate amplification in the ICC 2+ group, consistent with previous findings in untreated patients series. Results obtained with the ICC assay CB 11 showed higher overall concordance with FISH than did the Herceptest ICC assay, but CB 11 was less accurate than Herceptest in terms of selecting patients suitable for Herceptin treatment, which is currently restricted to ICC 3+/FISH amplified patients. The only ICC 3+ low-level amplified case (non-amplified according the two more stringent criteria applied) was found with the CB 11 assay. Comparison between pretreatment smears and post-treatment sections by FISH revealed no significant changes in the HER-2/neu gene profile. In the clinical setting these findings point to the usefulness of HER-2/neu assessment in chemotherapy-treated patients, when pre-treatment material is unavailable.
KW - Archival smears
KW - Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH)
KW - HER-2/neu
KW - Homogeneously staining regions (HSR)
KW - Immunocytochemistry (ICC)
KW - Tissue sections
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U2 - 10.1023/A:1024579206250
DO - 10.1023/A:1024579206250
M3 - Article
C2 - 12908824
AN - SCOPUS:0037998712
VL - 80
SP - 207
EP - 214
JO - Breast Cancer Research and Treatment
JF - Breast Cancer Research and Treatment
SN - 0167-6806
IS - 2
ER -