title: Sensitivity of HER-2/neu antibodies in archival tissue samples of invasive breast carcinomas. Correlation with oncogene amplification in 160 cases.
abstract: Overexpression and amplification of the HER-2 oncogene in patients with breast cancer has correlated with early onset of metastasis, resistance to hormonal therapy and some forms of chemotherapy, and shortened survival. Therefore, evaluation of this putative prognostic or predictive factor seems critical. Because different antibodies are used for the detection of the 185-kd HER-2 oncoprotein, we studied the sensitivity of 3 frequently used antibodies. Immunohistochemistry results were correlated with gene amplification level as assessed by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Protein overexpression was found in 17.2% and 12.5% of cases using antibodies against the external (TAB250) and internal (CB11) domains of the protein, respectively, and in 38.0% of cases using a rabbit polyclonal antibody. Fluorescence in situ hybridization was successful in all 160 tumors, and amplification was found in 37 tumors (23.1%). The monoclonal antibody TAB250 had the lowest misclassification rate, 9.6% (sensitivity, 67%; specificity, 97.5%).
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Institut Jules Bordet, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gancberg
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lespagnard
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rouas
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paesmans
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Piccart
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Leo
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Nogaret
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hertens
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Verhest
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Larsimont
mesh_terms: D000906:Antibodies; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry*; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases