HER2 mRNA Expression Profile and Its Correlation with ICC and FISH in FNAC Samples from Breast Cancer Patients

Divya Verma^1,2*, Nisha Raj¹, Dharam Veer Singh¹, Manjari Baluni¹, Mishra, R. N.², Mukesh Verma² & Ram Nawal Rao¹

¹Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
²National Jewish Health, 1400 Jackson St. Denver, CO, USA-80206

Dr. Divya Verma, Department of Medicine, National Jewish Health, 1400 Jackson St. Denver, CO, USA-80206.

Keywords: Breast carcinoma, Her2/neu; Cell Block (CB); Immunocytochemistry (ICC); Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization (FISH); Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA); Quantitative Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR)

Abstract

Context: Around 20-30% of breast carcinoma patients have HER2 overexpression, and they usually have a poor prognosis. With the advent of specific molecule targeting therapies, it is very important to determine overexpression or hyperactivity of the target in focus. Considering to these facts, diagnostic accuracy is very important to project the response of tentative candidate to Trastuzumab therapy because it specifically targets HER2. Although, all known tools for diagnostic purposes are more or less satisfactory but none of them have excellent accuracy and some, like tissue biopsy, are very invasive in nature. Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is a reliable, quicker, and less invasive technique, widely used for diagnosis of invasive breast carcinoma. Immunohistochemistry (IHC), combined with different methods for in situ hybridization, is currently used for routine assessment of HER2 levels in tissue specimens.

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