Weakly positive Her2

[Denvergirl]

My her2 result came back POSITIVE on my original biopsy but was in the low range. My Oncotype came back NEGATIVE for Her2. A repeat FISH assay came back POSITIVE (low end of range) for Her2 again. Then, I signed up for the ALLTO trial - they sent my tumor to the Mayo clinic and it came back NEGATIVE again for Her2. Should I be on Herceptin every 3 weeks for a year with my equivocal Her2 status? My doctor is recommending this . . . Thank you.

[Becky]

Being weakly positive does not mean that all your cells are weakly positive. What it means is that a small amount of your cells are positive for Her2 but most are not.

Your positive cells are just as positive as someone who is highly positive - that person just has a much higher quantity of positive cells than you.

Without Herceptin in your treatment plan, you might not eradicate that cell line of your tumor. Those few cells might be the ones that survive treatment and return. This is what your doctor is trying to prevent from happening - keeping you from recurring long term.

This is why your onc has you on Herceptin. It is kind of like having a sinus infection. You might have two different bacteria that respond to two different drugs. If your doctor only gives you one drug, you might feel better for awhile because that bacteria died but later, you will get the infection back because the other bacteria, unemcumbered for resources, takes over and you are sick again until the right antibiotic for that bacteria is given.

Hopefully I have explained this ok. Let me know

[Denvergirl]

That makes sense, thank you.