PTEN test

Sammy · 06-19-2006, 07:25 AM

I have read on this forum that some of us have got PTEN test done. Could you please tell me how is this test done....? I mean , is it a blood test... ?

tousled1 · 06-19-2006, 07:53 AM

Sammy,

If you go to search and type in PTEN, you will get all previous posts on this subject which should answer all your questions.

Sammy · 06-19-2006, 12:31 PM

I did read all the past articles. I still needed clarification , if the tumor is already removed then how do they test for PTEN ? Is there a Serum test for this like Her2 or is it only at tissue level ?

RobinP · 06-19-2006, 04:46 PM

Hi Sam,

I had my pTEN tested; it was positive- yahoo. I had my labatory that stores my tumor tissue block,forward some slices of the block to TMD- Targeted Molecular Diagnostics.Then TMD had the report back to me within days. Good luck.

Sammy · 06-20-2006, 10:04 AM

Thank you all for clarification. But, due to my ignorance I have another question. If the tumor is already excised then how does the PTEN test predict response of Herceptin. If herceptin still depends on PTEN after tumor excision then I guess it PTEN should be available by serum test also... ?

RobinP · 06-20-2006, 12:02 PM

If you have pTEN present or if you are pTEN positive that is a good thing as Herceptin activates pTEN so it can stop proliferation of the her2 postive cancer cell. As far as I know there is currently no serum pTEN test available; it is done on tissue block probably via Western blot assays.

06-22-2006, 09:34 AM

Thank you all for the valuable information.

IRENE FROM TAMPA · 06-24-2006, 09:14 AM

Robyn -

You stated that you sent your tissue sample to Target Molecular Diagnostics.

I would also like to have mine sample checked for PTen. Where is this place at and is that the only place to send to? How do you go about checking on this?
any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

06-27-2006, 12:14 PM

www.tmdlab.com

RobinP · 06-27-2006, 12:45 PM

Hi Irene,

I hope the above link to TMD helps Irene. The appropriate contacts should be there for the lab. If not, let me know and I will look it up for you. And no, I do not know any other lab who does the pTEN test at this point. However, perhaps Michelle knows of some others as I know she researched pTEN a lot also.

Dr. Neil Spector from GSK informed me of TMD. Dr. Bacus, who owns TMD, does a lot of the testing for clincial trials on the new drugs like Lapatinib for GSK. If you notice, Dr. Bacus and Spector are often joint authors in many of the GSK research Lapatinib articles.

Good luck.

Robin

Becky · 06-27-2006, 12:57 PM

Robin

Did you arrange for your sample to be sent or did you have to have your onco do it? Did your insurance cover this or did you have to pay out of pocket? If you paid (or know the cost), could you share that.

I know how to get slides sent as I had my slides sent elsewhere for second opinions (when I was first diagnosed) so I know the onco doesn't have to "approve" it or anything.

Just wondering as I am always toying with getting Pten, Top IIA and Her1 testing on my tumor. However, since I have had a year of Herceptin (with 5 more to take me to 2 yrs past diagnosis), I do not know if I need the information now that I have had Herceptin and the typical 4 dd A/C and 4 dd taxol treatments.

Maybe, for me, ignorance is bliss because what if I am Pten negative, Top IIA negative and highly Her1 positive? It does not mean I will recur but I will worry that I will and in an adjuvant setting, there is nothing else I can do. I have done everything in the adjuvant setting that I can (I think you know what I mean).

Kind regards

Becky

saleboat · 06-27-2006, 01:40 PM

Hi Becky,

I struggle with the issue that you raised-- I'm curious about the PTEN, but what would I do with the information-- how would it guide my treatment decisions given all the tx I've had. Still don't have an answer-- maybe shut down my ovaries, maybe do a vaccine trial...don't know. Part of me wants to give up cancer as a hobby.

Jen

RobinP · 06-28-2006, 07:03 AM

Becky and Jen I too think that too much information is not a good thing when it doesn't really help in treatment choices and only agonizes your mind more. I only researched pTEN late last year to help me make an informed decision about whether or not to do late adjuvant Herceptin. I choose a very self directed aggressive approach to dealing with my treatment decisions and choices after having been misdiagnosed multiple times over 17 months by a very experienced, outstanding breast surgeon, a bright, experienced pathologist and one seasoned radiologist, all of them diagnosing incorrectly that I had benign cystic breast condition that ultimately turned out to be breast cancer. Then once my cancer was diagnosed, 2 experienced seasoned pathologists, one from a major cancer institute, diagnosed my cancer as only a very large DCIS, pre cancer, with a micromets to the first node. I had only CMF treatment based on that diagnosis which was considered very aggressive treatment. However, about year later, I had my lumpectomy/mastectomy cancer slides checked again, after learning about my original fine needle aspirate biopsy pathology misdiagnosis, only to learn that that not only did I have DCIS with a micromets to the first lymph node but also a small invasive Her2 cancer that probably warranted AC treatment rather than the CMF treatment that I had received.

After my misdiagnoses, I feel that I must keep on top of things as my own best advocate, never again assuming that my physicians are doing that for me. Perhaps that is why I log onto her2support, it encourage me to stay vigilant and "abreast"(...smile) on her2 while also helping others too, I hope.

fcrcm · 07-19-2006, 09:18 AM

Sammy,

I am only now reading this thread (July) so this answer may be late. In answer to your question re: how to get cells from an excised tumor, usually tumors are kept frozen at the hospital and available for further testing for many years. Ask your doctor where yours is.

If you have metastsis (other than bone) a slice of that tumor will also give the information too.

I had my mastectomy in 1991, so when we were wondering about Her2Nu we used a slice of my liver tumor (discovered in 2005) rather than excavating the old tumor.

Hope you are still reading this thread and that this info helps.

fcrcm

Lani · 07-19-2006, 11:23 AM

I beg to differ. From what I understand, Tumors are kept for years at hospitals, but not frozen, rather paraffin embedded. This allows it to be tested with oncodx, for her2 pten and other IHC and rna based tests but not with microgene array and other dna based tests as I understand it.

For those who are having your primary or mets biopsied now--ask to have a small amount of it fresh frozen as that will allow the cutting edge microgene array based tests to be performed on it as knowledge advances in the (hopefully) not so distant future.

fcrcm · 07-20-2006, 09:15 AM

Thanks for the clarification. I hope it helps Sammy and others too, of course.

fcrcm

Jean · 07-20-2006, 04:16 PM

There is as yet no good drug to target the PTEN pathway. Velcade is not a good drug for this pathway as it really targets a protein degradeation pathway
mediated throught the endosome in the cell. There is a connection however it is tangential, between these pathways but it is far too tenuous to make a therapeutic decision. Moreover, the data are not at all clear that the PTEN alteration plays a direct role in HER2 positive tumors. There is no need for PTEN
testing at this point in time and it would not alter a treatment plan.

Hope this helps!
Jean