Intratumoral heterogeneity of her-2/neu in invasive mammary carcinomas using fluorescence in-situ hybridization and tissue microarray.
Fluorescence in-situ hybridization is increasingly being used to determine HER-2/neu status in patients with breast carcinoma. The possibility that intratumoral heterogeneity of HER-2/neu gene amplification may potentially contribute to inaccurate assessment of HER-2/neu status was investigated in routine cases of invasive mammary carcinomas. From 169 representative formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded blocks of invasive duct mammary carcinomas with grade 3 architecture, 48 cases were analyzed by fluorescence in-situ hybridization and 59 analyses were performed. Intratumoral heterogeneity for HER-2/neu gene amplification was demonstrated in only 5 (16%) of 31 cases where morphologically similar areas of a single tumor were analyzed. We conclude from this study that intratumoral heterogeneity of HER-2/neu gene amplification is a demonstrable but relatively uncommon occurrence. For invasive mammary carcinomas, the accurate assessment of HER-2/neu status by fluorescence in-situ hybridization analysis is not significantly confounded by intratumoral heterogeneity of HER-2/neu gene amplification in individual tumors.
Shin
Sandra J
SJ
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, New York 10021, USA. sjshin@med.cornell.edu
Hyjek
Elizabeth
E
Early
Erin
E
Knowles
Daniel M
DM
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D046228:Microarray Analysis; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases