Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Breast cancer

Updated guideline recommendations for HER2 testing

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology

View current issue Sign up to alerts

The recently updated HER2 testing guidelines by ASCO and the College of American Pathologists (CAP) are a significant step towards personalized medicine. It is excellent news that such great effort has been put into standardizing biomarker assessment. Undoubtedly, these recommendations will improve the analytical validity of HER2 testing, its clinical utility and the communication among health-care providers.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

References

  1. Paik, S., Kim, C. & Wolmark, N. HER2 status and benefit from adjuvant trastuzumab in breast cancer. N. Engl. J. Med. 358, 1409–1411 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Perez, E. A. et al. Four-year follow-up of trastuzumab plus adjuvant chemotherapy for operable human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive breast cancer: joint analysis of data from NCCTG N9831 and NSABP B-31. J. Clin. Oncol. 29, 3366–3373 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Wolff, A. C. et al. American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathologists guideline recommendations for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 testing in breast cancer. J. Clin. Oncol. 25, 118–145 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Wolff, A. C. et al. Recommendations for Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 testing in breast cancer: American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathologists clinical practice guideline update. J. Clin. Oncol. http://dx.doi:10.1200/JCO.2013.50.9984 (2013).

  5. Hammond, M. E. et al. American Society of Clinical Oncology/College Of American Pathologists guideline recommendations for immunohistochemical testing of estrogen and progesterone receptors in breast cancer. J. Clin. Oncol. 28, 2784–2795 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Middleton, L. P. et al. Implementation of American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathologists HER2 Guideline Recommendations in a tertiary care facility increases HER2 immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridization concordance and decreases the number of inconclusive cases. Arch. Pathol. Lab. Med. 133, 775–780 (2009).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Lee, A. H., Key, H. P., Bell, J. A., Hodi, Z. & Ellis, I. O. Concordance of HER2 status assessed on needle core biopsy and surgical specimens of invasive carcinoma of the breast. Histopathology 60, 880–884 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Hanna, W. M. et al. HER2 in situ hybridization in breast cancer: clinical implications of polysomy 17 and genetic heterogeneity. Mod. Pathol. http://dx.doi:10.1038/modpathol.2013.103.

  9. Starczynski, J. et al. HER2 gene amplification in breast cancer: a rogues' gallery of challenging diagnostic cases: UKNEQAS interpretation guidelines and research recommendations. Am. J. Clin. Pathol. 137, 595–605 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Rakha, E. A. et al. Prognostic significance of Nottingham histologic grade in invasive breast carcinoma. J. Clin. Oncol. 26, 3153–3158 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ian O. Ellis.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rakha, E., Ellis, I. Updated guideline recommendations for HER2 testing. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 11, 8–9 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2013.230

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2013.230

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Navigation