What is a HercepTest?
HercepTest™ is a semi-quantitative immunohistochemical assay to determine HER2 protein overexpression in breast cancer tissues routinely processed for histological evaluation and formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded cancer tissue from patients with adenocarcinoma of the stomach, including the gastroesophageal junction*.
What does HER2 mean?
HER2-positive breast cancer is a breast cancer that tests positive for a protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). This protein promotes the growth of cancer cells.
What is HER2 FISH test?
The FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) test checks the DNA of your cancer cells for extra copies of the HER2/neu gene. This gene makes proteins called HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) that attach to the surface of all breast cells.
Is it better to be HER2-positive or negative?
Breast cancer cells with higher than normal levels of HER2 are called HER2-positive. These cancers tend to grow and spread faster than breast cancers that are HER2-negative, but are much more likely to respond to treatment with drugs that target the HER2 protein.
What is a good HER2 score?
Testing for HER2 status
The IHC gives a score of 0 to 3+ that measures the amount of HER2 proteins on the surface of cells in a breast cancer tissue sample. If the score is 0 to 1+, it’s considered HER2-negative. If the score is 2+, it’s considered borderline. A score of 3+ is considered HER2-positive.
How long can you live with HER2?
The survival rate among patients differ based on the molecular subtype and stage. The survival rate at four years among women with HR+/HER2− is estimated to be 92.5%, followed by HR+/HER2+ at 90.3%, HR−/HER2+ at 82.7%, and HR−/HER2− at 77.0% [1].
What is worse HER2-positive or negative?
How accurate is FISH test for HER2?
The FISH test results will tell you that the cancer is either “positive” or “negative” (a result sometimes reported as “zero”) for HER2. Generally, the FISH test is not as widely available as another method of HER2 testing, called ImmunoHistoChemistry, or IHC. However, FISH is considered more accurate.
Is it better to be HER2-negative or positive?
Can HER2-positive be cured?
HER2-positive breast cancer is highly curable because of the availability of these HER2-targeted therapies, so we treat patients fairly aggressively upfront to reduce the risk of them experiencing a stage IV recurrence.
Does HER2 always return?
While HER2 positive breast cancer recurrence affects some patients, recent advancements in targeted therapies and long-term treatment approaches have made relapse less likely than ever before. The majority of patients with HER2 positive cancer do not experience recurrence.
Is HER2 curable 2021?
With recent advances in medicine, it is considered that HER2-positive breast cancer is curable. Targeted therapy is used to cure HER2-positive breast cancer. However, surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and hormonal therapy may also be combined with targeted therapy depending on cancer aggressiveness.
How long is chemo for HER2-positive?
Neoadjuvant therapy is typically administered for between 12 and 20 weeks, depending on the chosen regimen, and followed by surgery. When given as adjuvant chemotherapy following surgery, trastuzumab is given concurrently with chemotherapy, then continued for a total duration of 12 months.
What year did HER2 testing begin?
The prognostic value of HER2 amplification in human breast cancers was first determined by Slamon et al. in 1987 [21]. They evaluated tissues from 189 primary breast cancers and determined the role of HER2 as an independent prognostic factor.
Can FISH results be wrong?
Accuracy and limitations. Prenatal interphase FISH testing is highly accurate, with reported false-positive and -negative rates usually less than 1%. The main problem, however, is that not all specimens are informative. Uninformative rates will vary among laboratories, but rates of 3% to 10% are considered typical.
How do you stop HER2 recurrence?
Treating HER2-positive, early-stage breast cancer with Herceptin after surgery has been shown to lower the risk of recurrence. Current treatment guidelines recommend using Herceptin only when the cancer is larger than 1 cm because the risk of recurrence is higher for cancers of that size.
Does HER2+ Always Come Back?
What causes HER2 to mutate?
HER2-positive breast cancer is not inherited. Instead, it’s considered a somatic genetic mutation. This type of mutation occurs after conception. Having a close relative with HER2-positive breast cancer does not increase your risk for breast cancer or HER2-positive breast cancer.
How accurate is the FISH test?
Prenatal interphase FISH testing is highly accurate, with reported false-positive and -negative rates usually less than 1%. The main problem, however, is that not all specimens are informative. Uninformative rates will vary among laboratories, but rates of 3% to 10% are considered typical.
What do FISH results tell you?
0 or 1+, HER2-negative, indicates a cancer that may not respond to medicines targeting that protein. 2+, Uncertain, means FISH testing may be needed to get a better reading. 3+, HER2-positive, signals a cancer that will likely be treated with HER2 drugs.
Is HER2-positive likely to recur?
HER2-positive breast cancer is more aggressive and more likely to recur, or return, than HER2-negative breast cancer. Recurrence can happen anytime, but it usually takes place within 5 years of treatment. The good news is that recurrence is less likely now than ever before.
What are the chances of HER2 coming back?
Ten percent of patients had HER2-positive tumors. At a median follow-up of 74 months, there were 72 recurrences. The 5-year RFS rates were 77.1% and 93.7% in patients with HER2-positive and HER2-negative tumors, respectively (P < . 001).