Specificity of HercepTest in determining HER-2/neu status of breast cancers using the United States Food and Drug Administration-approved scoring system.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the specificity of the HercepTest for Immunoenzymatic Staining (Dako Corp, Carpinteria, CA) for determining HER-2/neu protein expression in breast cancer.


METHODS
Forty-eight invasive breast cancers previously found to be HER-2/neu-negative by two different immunohistochemical (IHC) assays and not amplified for the HER-2/neu gene by fluorescence in situ hybridization were studied using the HercepTest kit. HercepTest was performed according to the manufacturer's guidelines, and the results were scored on a 0 to 3+ scale using the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved grading system. In this system, cases scored as 2+ or 3+ are considered HER-2/neu-positive.


RESULTS
Among these 48 cases, the IHC score using the FDA-approved scoring system was 0 in four cases (8.3%), 1+ in 16 (33.3%), 2+ in 21 (43.8%), and 3+ in seven (14.6%). Therefore, 58.4% of these cases were categorized as HER-2/neu-positive, and the specificity of the HercepTest kit for HER-2/neu expression was 41.6%. However, with the use of a modified scoring system that took into account the level of staining of nonneoplastic epithelium, the specificity increased to 93.2%.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that the HercepTest kit, when used in accordance with the manufacturer's guidelines and the FDA-approved scoring system, results in a large proportion of breast cancers being categorized as positive for HER-2/neu protein expression and that many of these seem to be false-positives. Consideration of the level of staining of nonneoplastic epithelium resulted in improved specificity. The current FDA-approved scoring system for HercepTest results should be reevaluated before its widespread use in clinical practice.
Jacobs
T W
TW
Department of Pathology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Gown
A M
AM
Yaziji
H
H
Barnes
M J
MJ
Schnitt
S J
SJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases