Different assays for HER-2/neu evaluation in breast cancer

To evaluate different methodologic approaches for HER-2/neu analysis, we performed Southern, Northern, Western blot and histochemical assay on 112 samples from 86 primary tumors and 26 synchronous axillary metastatic lymph nodes of patients affected by operable breast cancer. Simultaneous statistical analysis of data obtained with the four methods (31 samples) showed that Western blot detected a higher percentage of alterations than the other assays (Cochran and Victor tests, 0.01 less than p less than 0.05). The same result was emphasized by pair analysis (McNemar, p less than 0.05), which evaluated the assay data two by two. Immunohistochemical evaluations were more in accord with immunoprecipitation data when performed on frozen or Bouin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues than on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues.