There are no specific HER2-positive breast cancer symptoms. The only way to tell is through pathology testing on your breast biopsy. It's part of the process of diagnosing the types and stages of breast cancer. What does HER2 positive mean and how is it diagnosed? There are two main tests for HER2 breast cancer: IHC (immunohistochemistry) measures the amount of HER2 proteins on the surface of breast cancer cells. Doctors usually use this method because it gives results quickly. FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) finds the number of HER2 genes inside the cancer cells. This test may be more accurate, but it is more expensive and takes longer to get results. Doctors often reserve this test for when the results of IHC are unclear. The test results will tell you the HER2 status, either positive or negative, for the biopsy tissue sample of the tumor. HER2 positive means the test determined that the tumor overexpresses HER2. For IHC testing, you will see one of the following results on the pathology report: 0 or +1: This is HER2-negative breast cancer.
Conversely, an AKT/MAPK-related constitutive hyperactivation of FASN gene promoter activity was unaltered in response to estradiol in non-endocrine responsive ER+/HER2+ breast cancer cells, and could be further enhanced by tamoxifen. Pharmacological blockade with structurally and mechanistically unrelated FASN inhibitors fully impeded the strong stimulatory activity of tamoxifen on the soft-agar colony forming capacity—an in vitro metric of tumorigenicity—of ER+/HER2+ breast cancer cells. In vivo treatment with a FASN inhibitor completely prevented the agonistic tumor-promoting activity of tamoxifen and fully restored its estrogen antagonist properties against ER/HER2-positive xenograft tumors in mice. Functional cancer proteomic data from The Cancer Proteome Atlas (TCPA) revealed that the ER+/HER2+ subtype was the highest FASN protein expressor compared to basal-like, HER2-enriched, and ER+/HER2-negative breast cancer groups. FASN is a biological determinant of HER2-driven endocrine resistance in ER+ breast cancer.
During the 2018 Miami Breast Cancer Conference, Dr. Sara Hurvitz discussed current management options for patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer. As part of our coverage of the Miami Breast Cancer Conference, held March 8–11 in Miami Beach, Florida, we spoke with Sara Hurvitz, MD, about the management of patients diagnosed with early-stage human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer, which she discussed during a talk at the meeting. Dr. Hurvitz is a medical oncologist who specializes in the treatment of breast cancer at the University of California, Los Angeles, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. -Interviewed by Anna Azvolinsky Cancer Network: First, is there anything distinct about the biology of HER2-positive early-stage breast cancer compared with other types of early-stage breast cancer, or in terms of how this disease presents? Dr. Hurvitz: HER2-positive breast cancer is known to behave more aggressively than HER2-negative disease, and this holds true even for early-stage breast cancer.