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Hi SusanAnne. I understand your concern but it is all about education. When we first observed this back in 1999 people thought we were making up this type of data or not interpreting the published data correctly. As more an more studies have been done we have seen more evidence showing the observation is real. A patient can be HER-2/neu negative by tissue testing and have an elevated serum test. However, the thought leaders are catching on. Oncologists are starting to get the message. DAKO and Bayer are going to make a strong effort this year to increase the awareness that not all HER-2/neu status designations are correct. Like everything else in medicine, it takes time to educate people and on the other hand we don't want to be adopting tests and drugs that really aren't good. Good tests and good therapies will stand the test of time. My hope is that the serum HER-2/neu test will help many patients with breast cancer as new anti-HER-2/neu therpeis are being developed like Lapatinib from GSK. Herceptin is a good therapy and hopefully the next generation of HER-2/neu therapies will be even better and the serum HER-2/neu test will help identify more HER-2/neu positive patients that are not identified by tissue testing. I think in the end, combining both tissue testing with serum testing will identify all patients with HER-2/neu positive tumors and that we won't miss those incorrectly designated HER-2/neu negative. Again, it is all about raising awareness and educating oncologists and patients so that both groups are armed with the best information.
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