ISH-based HER2 diagnostics

A prerequisite for all HER2 directed therapies is the demonstration of HER2 receptor protein overexpression and/or gene amplification by in situ hybridization (ISH). ASCO and CAP have published several HER2 test guidelines over the past 15 years for both breast and gastric cancer. The latest version for breast cancer (2018) focuses on special issues of ISH related to the definitions of special diagnostic groups (1-5). The guidelines for gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (2017), essentially based on ToGA trial data, are now also being used for other tumors such as pancreas, gallbladder, and non-small-cell lung cancer. For colorectal cancer, a modified testing procedure has been proposed. Recently, besides overexpression and amplification, a third type of HER gene alteration, namely mutation, has gained much interest. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) allows detection of both amplification and mutation of the HER2 gene providing new options of therapy especially in the case of activating mutations.