BEST PRACTICES FOR IHC DETECTION AND INTERPRETATION OF ER, PR, AND HER2 PROTEIN OVEREXPRESSION IN BREAST CANCER

Course overview

Accurate detection and interpretation of estrogen receptor (ER) protein, progesterone receptor (PR) protein, and HER-2/neu protein overexpression are critical for determing adjuvant 'Personalized' therapy in patients with breast cancer. This session will review 'Best Practices' for breast biospecimen collection, fixation and processing, tissue sectioning, as well as immunohistochemical staining for ER, PR, and HER2 protein overexpression. The use of fluorescence in situ hybridization for HER-2/neu gene amplification will also be addressed. Comparison of internal laboratory results with published benchmarks will be discussed. Participants will be given the opportunity to evaluate and score ER, PR, and HER2 immunohistochemical stains performed on a series of breast cancer cases.