Authors' recommendations: Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women, with an estimated 2,829,041 individuals currently living with this type of cancer in the United States. In addition, 232,340 new cases and 39,620 deaths due to breast cancer were expected in 2013. Approximately 25% of breast cancer patients have tumors that overexpress the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) protein. These patients tend to have a more aggressive tumor and generally have poor prognosis compared with HER2-negative cases. Therefore, it has been recommended that all invasive breast cancer patients be tested to determine their HER2 status. Currently, the most common methods used to evaluate HER2 levels include immunohistochemistry (IHC)—a protein-based method that categorizes patients into 4 groups to determine HER2 status—and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), which is a DNA-based method that quantifies gene expression levels. However, it is estimated that approximately 20% of results from currently used methods may be inaccurate. Therefore, newer methods are being developed, including the HERmark breast cancer assay. In this method, quantitative HER2 levels are measured to estimate total protein expression (H2T) levels and HER2 homodimer (H2D) levels (whereby 2 HER2 molecules are connected). Therefore, use of a quantitative protein-based method may provide additional information to accurately determine HER2 status in breast cancer patients.

Project Status: Completed

Year Published: 2014

URL for published report: The report may be purchased from: http://www.hayesinc.com/hayes/crd/?crd=16359

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: United States

Organisation Name: HAYES, Inc.

Contact Address: 157 S. Broad Street, Suite 200, Lansdale, PA 19446, USA. Tel: 215 855 0615; Fax: 215 855 5218

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Contact Email: saleinfo@hayesinc.com

Copyright: 2014 Winifred S. Hayes, Inc