Question about Pathology report
 

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.

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.

Ihc/fish
 

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.

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.