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Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistry logoLink to Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistry
. 2008 Dec 20;23(4):345–351. doi: 10.1007/s12291-008-0076-5

Evaluation of immunohistochemistry and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay for HER-2/neu expression in breast carcinoma

Rani James 1, K Thriveni 1, Girija Ramaswamy 1,✉, Lakshmi Krishnamoorthy 1, Geetashree Mukherjee 1,2, P P Vijayalaxmi Deshmane 1,3, P P Bapsy 1,4
PMCID: PMC3453142  PMID: 23105784

Abstract

HER-2 is overexpressed in approximately 20–30% of invasive Breast Cancer. ECD of the HER-2 protein is frequently cleaved and released into the circulation, where it can be detected by ELISA in up to 45% of patients with metastatic breast cancer. The objective of our study was to compare the current methods for the detection of HER-2 protein. Tissue HER-2 levels were studied in 100 breast cancer patients by IHC and compared with serum HER-2 levels by ELISA. IHC frequency was 29%. Serum HER-2 ECD was positive in 42% of patients. A statistically significant correlation was observed. HER-2 detected by IHC correlates significantly with serum HER-2 levels detected by ELISA. Thus, ELISA is a reliable and economical tool to assess the HER-2 status in tumors, when breast tissue sample is not available.

Key Words: Breast cancer, HER-2, ECD, IHC, ELISA

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