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Quantitative immunohistochemical evaluation of HER2/ neu expression with HercepTest TM in breast carcinoma by image analysis
Author(s) -
Hatanaka Yutaka,
Hashizume Kaoru,
Kamihara Yuki,
Itoh Hitoshi,
Tsuda Hitoshi,
Osamura R. Yoshiyuki,
Tani Yoichi
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
pathology international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.73
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1827
pISSN - 1320-5463
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-1827.2001.01162.x
Subject(s) - concordance , her2/neu , immunohistochemistry , breast carcinoma , immunostaining , pathology , medicine , staining , carcinoma , correlation , nuclear medicine , breast cancer , cancer , mathematics , geometry
HercepTest TM (DAKO A/S, Glostrup, Denmark) is an immunohistochemical assay that detects HER2/ neu gene products, and evaluates the overexpression status of the HER2/ neu protein in determining eligibility for the Trastuzumab (Herceptin R , Genentech, San Francisco, CA, USA) therapy. However, practically, interobserver variability of the HER2/ neu interpretation of the immunostained results has caused marked disagreement with regard to the intensity of tumor staining. In this study, we quantitated HER2/ neu expression by image analysis, and applied this analyzing system to help to minimize interobserver variability of the interpretation of the HercepTest TM . All the immunostained results were scored semiquantitatively on a range of 0 to 3+ in accordance with the criteria described as per the manufacturer’s instructions, and quantitatively evaluated using an image analyzing system with image processing software. Among the 92 cases, 15 were scored as 3+, six were 2+, and 32 were 1+ under intraobservers agreement. When the cases were quantitated, a high correlation was shown between the signal area extracted by image analysis and the corresponding score of staining intensity with the HercepTest TM . By converting the quantitatively extracted data into a scoring system based upon the criteria, the outcome demonstrated a strong concordance with the scoring data obtained from immunostaining. The results indicated that a quantitative scoring system performed by simple image analysis may provide to improve interobserver agreement of the interpretation of the HercepTest TM in clinical practice.