International achievement of MITERA Molecular Histopathology Department

The Molecular Histopathology Department of MITERA participated in a multi-institutional, international study investigating the diagnostic techniques used to study the effect of HER2 gene on breast cancer. The Study was an initiative of the
Royal Surrey County Hospital and various hospital and university laboratories from Finland, Australia, Italy and Portugal participated. Greek was represented by MITERAand Mr. Nikiforos Kapranos, pathologist, in particular.

The results of the Study proved that the Chromogenic In-Situ Hybridization (CISH) shows a high percentage of accuracy and repeatability even in difficult cases and therefore it can contribute to HER2 gene assessment on breast cancer. The available methods for HER2 assessment present significant problems and as a result, the relative biological agent “Herceptin”, is not always used properly. The results of the above-mentioned Study were rather successful and were presented in the internationally acknowledged medical Journal “Journal of Clinical Pathology”. These results should contribute to the establishment of the European Foundation for Laboratory control that is a Foundation dedicated to the accreditation of laboratories involved in HER2 gene assessment.