title: Her-2/neu expression in breast cancer--A comparison of different diagnostic methods.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Determination of Her-2/neu overexpression in breast cancer has previously been shown to be of prognostic significance. In this study, Her-2/neu expression in breast cancer was characterised by real-time PCR (RLT-PCR) based LightCycler-HER-2/neu DNA Quantification with immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH).
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifteen specimens of invasive breast cancer - whole tissue sections as well as microdissected tumour cells - were subjected to RLT-PCR. Additionally, IHC and FISH were performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Her-2/neu overexpression was detected by FISH and by real-time PCR in the same tumours. In contrast, IHC revealed discordant results.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Determination of Her-2/neu amplification by real-time PCR is a sensitive and specific method with some advantages over FISH. This method is simple and reliable and has the potential of categorizing those tumours with borderline Her-2/neu overexpression as determined by IHC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology and Rheumatology, University of Göttingen, Germany. pbenoeh@gwdg.de
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Benöhr
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Henkel
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Speer
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Vogel
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sotlar
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Aydeniz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reiser
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Neubauer
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tabiti
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wallwiener
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Clare
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kurek
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018275:Carcinoma, Lobular / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005784:Gene Amplification; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases