Help me understand my HER2 report

Boo307

My pathology report found that my cancer was HER2 positive.  The report says:

Average copy number HER2/neu:  29.20

Ratio HER-2/neu/CEP 17:            12.43

It seems that I have read that a ratio of greater than 2 is positive, so 12.43 seems high.  What about the average copies.  That looks high also.  Is there any correlation between a strongly positive HER2/neu status and rate of recurrence?

Thanks for any light you can shed on this.

Boo

cbm

Hi, Boo; I am not sure I can help with the technicality, but let me see.  My own path report said that the avg. copies of Her2 per nucleus was 4.82, and my ratio was 2.4.  My concern has always been that my fairly low score suggests that Herceptin doesn't work as well for me.  I believe that the higher your Her2, the more effective Herceptin will be.  That said, my oncologist says that positive is positive, there aren't any real degrees of positive that have a better or worse prognosis, and I imagine that was true before Herceptin as well.

From what I've read, the degree of Her2 positivity was significant when it came time to decide on eligibility for the first trials.  The cutoff scores were a total of ten signals, and a ratio of 2.2, I believe.  I've seen other numbers on this board but those are in the neighborhood, I think.

Perhaps more knowledgeable friends will chime in; I've often wondered about this myself.

Warmest regards,

Cathy 

Boo307

Cathy,

I spoke to my oncologist today and she told me exactly what you had said.  There hasn't been research on the ratio between being high or low as to whether the cancer is more aggressive or more responsive to treatment.  She did mention that my ratio of 12.43 is one of the highest she has seen. 

She did mention the growing body of research confirming the value of regular exercise in reducing the risk or recurrence of breast cancer. 

Thanks again for your information.

Boo