title: Analysis of the HER2/neu gene amplification in microdissected breast cancer tumour samples.
abstract: The HER2/neu oncogene has been reported to be amplified in > 20% of invasive ductal carcinomas. In order to investigate the HER2/neu status in pure populations of breast cancer cells, a laser capture microdissection (LCM) system was used. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded breast tissue areas corresponding to normal ducts, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) were microdissected and genomic DNA was isolated by a modified proteinase K- phenol extraction method and subjected to PCR for HER2/neu analysis. One hundred % concordance for detection of the HER2/neu gene amplification was found between immunohistochemistry and PCR used in combination with LCM. Our results indicated that LCM is a powerful technique for isolating pure populations of cells from paraffin-embedded tissue sections and that these cells can be used to study genomic alterations at the DNA level.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomic Pathology, Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Rishie M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Seth
authors.forename: Angelika M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Burger
authors.forename: Harriette J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kahn
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification; D018734:Genes, erbB-2; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D042282:Microdissection; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases