HER2 Serum Test

[tousled1]

I was wondering how many women are getting the HER2 serum test and what your results were/are. My oncologist has ordered the test every 12 weeks for me and that is the main tool we are using to check for progression. My first score was 10.1 and my last one was 9.5.

[rinaina]

what does the her2 serum test measure and what are good numbers?

[newgg]

After gathering info on this board I had the HER2 serum done at my request 3 months ago and first number was 8.5. Repeated a few days ago after 12 weeks because the CA 15 jumped in only 3 weeks from 30 to 41. Will be interesting to see if the HER2 serum follows the same trend. Will also be getting a pet/ct to check things out. Onc wanted to wait until the year of herceptin was completed in Feb. 2007 for more scans but the jump in the dang marker changed that plan.
Hugs, Bonnie

[tousled1]

Rinaina,


The serum Her2/neu test is a simple blood test. It is cleared by the FDA for monitoring women with metastatic breast cancer. The serum test is the only way of tracking women with Her2/neu-positive tumors to see if the Her2/neu level is changing and whether or not they are responding to Herceptin. Anything under 15 is considered normal. If it rises above 15 then it's time to look at whether the cancer is metastisizing. Here's a link for into on the test. http://www.her2support.org/faq.pdf (http://www.her2support.org/faq.pdf)

[rinaina]

thank you tousled for that excellent explanation. my her2 hasn't metastasized as of yet, so would i still be wise to get the test though? also could you explain this CA test to that is mentioned above?

[tousled1]

Rinaina,

As long as you are on Herceptin I would recommend that you get the HER2 serum test done. Ask your oncologist about it. Also the CEA, or CA15-3 and 27.29 are blood tests also called "tumor marker tests." I believe it measures proteins that are greater in cancer cells than normal cells. I only get the CA27.29 and anything under 35 is considered normal. Some oncologists do not utilize the tumor marker tests at all. They are not extremely reliable and the results can be affected by many things such as a slight infection, low blood count, etc. With HER2 breast cancer the best test is the HER2 serum test. Hope this helps.

[rinaina]

Thank you very much, it helps a lot to be informed and once again I have you and others on this forum to thank.

[Lolly]

Here's a link to a discussion we had earlier this year with Dr. Walt Carney of Bayer/Oncogene, who helped develop their Serum Her2 Test:
http://her2support.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=22881&highlight=walt+carney

[SunDiego]

wanted to bring this topic up again for discussion. My wife (Stage IV, single liver met), had this test done 10/11 and the result came back with 5.9 (which seems to fall at the very low end of normal).

I'm curious to know if others of you have had this test done, if so, what your score(s) were, and how your disease regressed/progressed in accordance with your Serum Her2 Score.

[Jackie07]

An abstract was just posted two days ago; looks like lower score means better response:

Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2010 Oct 9. [Epub ahead of print]

High serum TGF-α predicts poor response to lapatinib and capecitabine in HER2-positive breast cancer.

Rhee J, Han SW, Cha Y, Ham HS, Kim HP, Oh DY, Im SA, Park JW, Ro J, Lee KS, Park IH, Im YH, Bang YJ, Kim TY.

Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, 101 Daehang-Ro, Jongno-Gu, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract

Lapatinib and capecitabine combination therapy is effective in trastuzumab-resistant human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer. We investigated the biomarkers from serum of patients receiving lapatinib and capecitabine Patients received lapatinib 1,250 mg once daily and capecitabine 2,000 mg/m(2)/day, day 1-14, every 3 weeks.

Serum samples were obtained before treatment initiation. Levels of transforming growth factor-α (TGF-α), epidermal growth factor (EGF), extracellular domains of EGFR and HER2 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The effect of TGF-α on in vitro sensitivity of SK-BR-3 cells to lapatinib was investigated.

Sixty-four patients were included. Response rate was significantly higher in patients with low serum TGF-α (≤3.75 pg/ml) compared to high TGF-α (>3.75 pg/ml) [61.1% (11/18) vs. 17.4% (8/46), respectively; P = 0.001]. Low serum TGF-α was independently associated with better response in multivariate analysis [adjusted odds ratio, 8.96; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.4-34.2]. Time-to-progression tended to be shorter in patients with high serum TGF-α compared to low TGF-α [median 3.8 months (95% CI 2.3-5.4) vs. 6.5 (95% CI 6.1-6.8), respectively; P = 0.067]. We confirmed that TGF-α diminished the sensitivity of SK-BR3-cells to lapatinib in vitro. The in vitro antiproliferative effect of cetuximab in combination with lapatinib was higher than that of lapatinib alone in SK-BR3-cells exposed to TGF-α.

These data suggest that TGF-α plays a role in resistance to lapatinib and capecitabine therapy among HER2-positive breast cancer.

PMID: 20936340

[SunDiego]

Thanks for sharing.