Role of Chromogenic in Situ Hybridization (CISH™) in the Evaluation of HER2 Status in Breast Carcinoma: Comparison with Immunohistochemistry and Fish

Abstract

We report our experience with Chromogenic in Situ Hybridization (CISH™) for the evaluation of HER2 amplification on 55 cases of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded invasive breast carcinomas of different histology. All the results were corrected for chromosome 17 aneusomy and compared with immunohistochemistry (IHC); a subset of cases was compared to FISH. Thirty-one of 32 cases in which FISH and CISH™ were performed yielded the same results. CISH™ and IHC showed a good concordance in the 0/1+ and 3+ category, while a poor agreement with weakly protein overexpression was confirmed. Chromosome 17 analysis was necessary in cases with a low number of HER2 gene copies. CISH™ is a useful tool to evaluate breast cancer HER2 status that can be easily implemented in a laboratory of surgical pathology.

Keywords

Chromogenic in Situ Hybridization (CISH™)Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization (FISH)immunohistochemistry breast carcinoma HER2 ERBB2

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