ER, PR status with HER2+

[sassy]

Would anyone have information or know where to find statistics concerning
the ER and PR status with HER2+++ cancers.

For example, I am ER+(70%), PR+(30) and HER2+++

Are most HER2+++

1) ER+ and PR+
2) ER+ and PR-
3) ER- and PR-
4) ER- and PR+(not sure if this is a category)

Wondering how each of these effects HER2+++ treatment and effectiveness of treatment.

This thought came to me after reading the article posted by dee concerning tamoxifen efficacy.

Sassy

[Montana]

I don't know where to find the stats, but we could all answer here.

I'm Her2+++

ER 91% PR 62%

Sue

[Becky]

I believe I read that about 50% of Her 2 +++ are also hormone positive.

I am Her2 +++ and ER 50% and PR 5%.

Best reagards,

Becky

[*_Linda_*]

I was trying to dig up the article you mentioned but couldn't find it. I'd be very interested in reading it as I've always wondered about tamoxifen and her2. I'm her2+ er+ pr+ but not sure how much er and pr.... where can I find the article?

[Lori]

You have asked a very good question. I often wondered about this also.

I am Her2, Er 10% and Pr 70%. I also am debating on the whole tamoxifen issue. Any info would be helpful.

Lori

[al from canada]

I recall reading less than 10% of HER2 + or also ER+.
If I can find the article I'll send it.
Al

[al from canada]

Lori,
Here is the info you are looking for.
http://annonc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/14/12/1697
Al

[sassy]

Linda,

The article I mentioned is under the submitted article forum of this site.


http://www.her2support.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=22169

Submitted by Dee.

Sassy

[*_Donna_*]

I am ER- PR- and Her2+++
Was told this is very aggressive cancer.
Stage 1, Grade 3 with negative sentinal nodes but bioposy path report showed "possible lymph invasion"

[Rozebud]

Yes (4) is a category. I'm in it.

Er-, Pr+ 23%. Would love to know if anyone has info on this type. Me, Nikki from UK and only 2 other people I know are this type - all of us her2+ as well. Only about 1% of cancers are ER-,PR+. Would love to know if it's better or worse than being ER+,PR- (know it's worse than if they're both +).

[jojo]

OK, you got me thinking about something else... what percentage numbers for ER and PR status are considered to be "low" positive??

[LindaBL]

I am ER+(95%), PR+(30%), Her2+++, stage II

On Arimidex for 2 1/2 years and recently started Herceptin. The research Al listed is one of the reasons I chose to be on Arimidex instead of Tamoxifen.

LindaBL

[AlaskaAngel]

Rozebud, what I've seen about the minority who are ER-, PR+ is speculation that partly because that group is small, possibly it is due to errors in testing.

Most HER2 +++'s are ER-.

It sounds to me like when it comes to being both HER2+++ and ER+, the more PR+ the better.

AlaskaAngel

[Becky]

When I got a second opinion at Sloan Kettering, I was told I was lucky to also be ER/PR positive since I was Her 2 positive. Being hormone positive is always a good thing even if you are Her 2 (or anything else that is discovered).

So... since this subject came up and today is my Herceptin day, I asked my new (and highly intelligent onco) the question and he said it is always better to be hormone positive - especially now when one can take hormonals and herceptin together.

Best regards

Becky

[sassy]

I had a chance to ask my onc today--I didn't think I would see him. But he came by to tell me my blood tests indicate I will be and should remain post menopausal after chemo. If not, he would do something to make sure so that I could go on AI. He had been non commital until the test results came back.

This was my main reason for finding stats on hormone status. I posed the stats question to my onc and he said about 50% of her2+ are er+. In the general breast cancer population about two thirds are ER+. Being er+ is good in either case because of hormonal treatment and the percentage of positive is only a factor if it is very low perhaps, 10% or less.

As for pr status, he did not feel it carried much significance, the er status was most inportant. I did ask if er- pr+ was a category and he said it was. It was almost always found only in her2+++ cancers. He thought the pr+ was related to the her2 overexpression.

Sassy

[prayer]

Sassy,
what did your onc mean by percentage was only significant if your er is less than 10%?

[sassy]

He didn't say percentage was only significant if less than 10%. He was saying that any level positive was good--only questionable if very low 10% or less.

Sassy

[AlaskaAngel]

I guess it depends on whether one is thinking in terms of ANY hormone-receptor positivity (ER/PR) or just ER or just PR....?

"In agreement with previous studies (32,33), we found an inverse
relationship between ER/PR expression and HER2 (Table IV).
ER/PR positive tumors tend to lack HER2 overexpression
and conversely, HER2 overexpressing tumors tend to be
ER/PR negative...."


http://147.52.72.117/IJO/2001/volume19/number6/1155-1160.pdf


and in a study of 366 women, "ER-positive and HER2-negative tumors were found in 221 patients (60.4%), ER-negative and HER2-negative in 71 (19.4%), ER-negative and HER2-positive in 46 (12.6%), and ER-positive and HER2-positive in 28 (7.7%)".


http://meeting.jco.org/cgi/content/abstract/23/16_suppl/900


Out of the 366, 249 (68.1%) were positive for ER and 74 (20.2%) were positive for HER2.

60.4% ER+, HER2-
19.4% ER-, HER2-
12.6% ER-, HER2+
7.7% ER+, HER2+

[mts]

One of my tumors was entirely ER/PR negative and a smaller one just next to it was ER 5% pos and PR neg. Both were HER2 +++

Anyone else have this? And yes, I had the tumors sent out for a 2nd opinion and results were the same as 1st time.

I'm on Tamoxifen for that 5%. It seems whether you are 5% pos or 95% positive you are "classified" as positive.

Keep in mind, our HER2 positive tumors react very well to chemo- so I am counting on that factor !!!

Maria

[prayer]

maria,
I had a tumor that is 5% er and pr-, her2+ and they are calling me estrogen negative. I was unaware that you could take tamoxifen for 5%.
Penny

[mts]

Prayer-
Yep, I received opinions from 2 oncs regarding this and they both agreed that 5% positive is better than zero and therefore Tamoxifen is better than nothing. It decreases my recurrance rates by 3% or 4% (very few percentage points), but when I see my statistical survival rate at 82%; those 3 or 4 extra points make ME feel better. By the way, one onc is at UPenn in Philadelphia and the other one is in Orlando Fl. Neither one was aware of the other's opinion.

Keep in mind that when we see ER positive statistics, it is not broken down into groups. If you are ER 5% positive, then you are ER positive!
Maria

[prayer]

Thanks Maria,
Those oncologists are just so damn depressing once they find out you are estrogen neg. All three of my oncs said that I am estrogen negative even though the path report clearly states 5%. I am thinking of having it retested however the tumor is only 7mm and there for there is not enough left of it to retest both estrogen and her2. My her2 was done by IHC(?) and needs to be confirmed before I can have herceptin since I am grade 2. So long story short I am uncertain what to do. Whether I should fight for retesting of both or what. I think I am just in a muddle.