Clinical Application Of Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) To Detect HER-2 Gene In Breast Cancer

Objective To investigate the clinical application of the detection of HER-2 gene by FISH in breast cancer as well as the relationship between HER-2 gene amplification and clinicopathology (ER,PR,Axillary nodes metastases,age,tumor size,pathologic type and clinical tumor stage) of breast cancer.Methods Sixty cases of paraffin-embedded breast infiltrating ductal carcinoma were detected and data were analyzed by software SPSS13.O.We compared and analyzed the concordance and correlation between FISH and IHC as well as the relationship between HER-2 gene amplification and clinicopathology breast cancer.Result (1)HER-2 protein expressions were classified into three groups (strong/moderate/weak or negative) and those rates of HER-2 gene amplification by FISH were respectively 83.33%,50.0%,5.0%. (2) HER-2 gene overexpression had relationship with ER-negative,PR- negative and axillary nodes metastases. They showed statistical meaning (P＜0.05). (3) HER-2 gene overexpression had no relationship with age,tumor size,pathologic type and clinical tumor stage(P>0.05).Conclusion The false positive and false negative rates are higher in HER-2 protein expression by IHC. There are highly concordance between HER-2 gene overexpression and strong or negative expression of HER-2 protein. Compared with IHC, FISH which is more effective and precise could be applied extensively. HER-2 gene overexpression was negatively correlated with ER and PR.It was positively correlated with axillary node status.