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 of breast cancer.Methods Forty cases of paraffin-embedded breast infiltrating ductal carcinoma were detected.We compared and analyzed the results of FISH with those of IHC.Result 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 85.7%,50% and 5.9%.Ten cases were HER-2 gene amplification in 24 cases of metastatic axillary nodes(P=0.039).Six cases were HER-2 gene amplification in 8 cases of negative estrogen receptor(ER) and progesterone receptor(PR)(P0.05).Conclusion The false positive and false negative rates are higher in HER-2 protein expression by IHC.Compared with IHC,FISH,which is more effective and precise could be applied extensively.Axillary nodes metastases are related to HER-2 gene amplification.