Question about Pathology report

[sandif]

Hello,
I am relatively new here and do not understand my path report. For the IHC test, it says "HER-2/NEU is 2+ , No amplification of the HER-2/NEU gene by FISH analysis." What would you conclude from this? Thanks in advance for responses.

[Becky]

Theory is that Fish is definitive as it "counts" the extra copies of the Her2neu gene. Anyone who isn't +3 on the IHC test gets Fish as +2 and +1 are not definitive. IHC tests the amount of Her2neu protein on the surface of the cancer cell. Most research will tell you that your results suggest you are not Her2+. There is some new research that says Herceptin may help a woman like you but there is not alot of data to back this up.

Maybe others here, like Lani can help.

[tousled1]

Sandif,

There are two tests for HER-2:

1. IHC test (IHC stands for ImmunoHistoChemistry)
   • The IHC test shows if there is too much HER-2 receptor protein in the cancer cells.
   • The results of the IHC test can be 0 (negative), 1+ (negative), 2+ (borderline), or 3+ (positive).
   FISH test (FISH stands for Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization)
2. • The FISH test shows if there are too many copies of the HER-2 gene in the cancer cells.
     
   • The results of the FISH test can be "positive" (extra copies) or "negative" (normal number of copies).

Find out which test for HER-2 you had. This is important. Only cancers that test IHC "3+" or FISH "positive" will respond well to therapy that works against HER-2. An IHC 2+ test result is called borderline. If you have a 2+ result, you can and should ask to have the tissue tested with the FISH test.

[sandif]

Thank you for the responses. I believe I did have the FISH test and it said no amplification of HER/NEU--that was why I was wondering if I was negative.