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Updated: Aug 12, 2026
Building Up a High-throughput Screening Platform to Assess the Heterogeneity of HER2 Gene Amplification in Breast Cancers
Published on: December 5, 2017
Her-2/neu expression in breast cancer--A comparison of different diagnostic methods
1Department of Nephrology and Rheumatology, University of Göttingen, Germany. pbenoeh@gwdg.de
Background:
Determination of Her-2/neu overexpression in breast cancer has previously been shown to be of prognostic significance. In this study, Her-2/neu expression in breast cancer was characterised by real-time PCR (RLT-PCR) based LightCycler-HER-2/neu DNA Quantification with immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH).
Material And Methods:
Fifteen specimens of invasive breast cancer - whole tissue sections as well as microdissected tumour cells - were subjected to RLT-PCR. Additionally, IHC and FISH were performed.
Results:
Her-2/neu overexpression was detected by FISH and by real-time PCR in the same tumours. In contrast, IHC revealed discordant results.
Conclusion:
Determination of Her-2/neu amplification by real-time PCR is a sensitive and specific method with some advantages over FISH. This method is simple and reliable and has the potential of categorizing those tumours with borderline Her-2/neu overexpression as determined by IHC.
