Breast cancer testing: major endorsement received from UCL Advanced Diagnostics

UCL-AD is the immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridisation (ISH) and molecular diagnostics service arm of the UCL-Cancer Institute and a bridge between the Institute and University College Hospitals NHS Trust (UCLH). It conducts around 110,000 immunohistochemistry, 1000 ISH and 1000 molecular diagnostic tests per year across the full spectrum of diseases. It is also the host laboratory for the UK National External Quality Assessment Scheme for Immunocytochemistry (ICC) and In Situ Hybridisation.

Brightfield approach
Michael Gandy, lead biomedical scientist and clinical services manager at UCL-AD, explained: “We have been evaluating a range of different HER2-targeted assays which are used as aids to select breast and gastric cancer patients who may benefit from Herceptin (trastuzumab) and next-generation targeted therapies. Following an internal evaluation over a six-month period, we have chosen the HER2 4B5 and Inform HER2 Dual ISH (DDISH) assays on the BenchMark Ultra staining platform from Roche as we see this technology as a major innovation.”

UCL-AD was seeking additional benefits from adopting new technology and chose the Roche solution because of the accuracy of the test and the benefits of using brightfield microscopy. Furthermore, the test also enables a greater understanding of HER2 gene status in the context of the pathological characteristics of the disease, which is a major advantage in accurate targeted therapy selection, and delivers dramatically improved turnaround times through full laboratory automation.