Analysis of the HER2/neu Gene Amplification in Microdissected Breast Cancer Tumour Samples

• Published in: Anticancer research Vol. 26; no. 2A; pp. 927 - 931
• Main Authors: SETH, Rishie M, BURGER, Angelika M, KAHN, Harriette J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Attiki International Institute of Anticancer Research 01-03-2006
• Subjects: Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Breast Neoplasms - genetics; Breast Neoplasms - metabolism; Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Female; Gene Amplification; Genes, erbB-2; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Mammary gland diseases; Medical sciences; Microdissection; Molecular Sequence Data; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Receptor, ErbB-2 - biosynthesis; Receptor, ErbB-2 - genetics; Tumors; Microdissection; Breast tumor; erbB2 Gene; Laser capture microdissection; Breast cancer; Malignant tumor; HER2/neu; Capture; Polymerase chain reaction; Mammary gland diseases; Gene amplification; Cancerology; Laser; Molecular biology
• ISSN: 0250-7005; 1791-7530

The HER2/neu oncogene has been reported to be amplified in >20% of invasive ductal carcinomas. In order to investigate the
HER2/neu status in pure populations of breast cancer cells, a laser capture microdissection (LCM) system was used. Formalin-fixed
paraffin-embedded breast tissue areas corresponding to normal ducts, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and invasive ductal carcinoma
(IDC) were microdissected and genomic DNA was isolated by a modified proteinase K- phenol extraction method and subjected
to PCR for HER2/neu analysis. One hundred % concordance for detection of the HER2/neu gene amplification was found between
immunohistochemistry and PCR used in combination with LCM. Our results indicated that LCM is a powerful technique for isolating
pure populations of cells from paraffin-embedded tissue sections and that these cells can be used to study genomic alterations
at the DNA level.