Current situation and development of HER-2 testing in breast cancer / 中国肿瘤临床

ABSTRACT

Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2/neu) is an important prognostic predictor and the key predictor of anti-HER-2 therapy of breast cancer. Accurate testing of HER-2 status for breast cancer patients is important in clinical practice. As of this writing, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the College of American Pathologists recommend three methods for HER-2 detection, namely, immunohistochemistry, fluorescence in situ hybridization, and bright-field in situ hybridization. The abovementioned methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. New methods, such as multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification, quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, and RNA in situ hybridization, are currently applied to detect HER-2 status. New technologies not only make up for the shortcomings of routine methods but also have unique benefits that can meet the demands for HER-2 testing of some breast cancer patients. Thus, these methods are promising for clinical applications and can improve clinical diagnosis and treatment. The characteristics, advantages, and drawbacks of these technologies are introduced and reviewed in this paper.