her2 positive without breast cancer/

[kedskare]

can you be her2 positive without having breast cancer?

[Fernando Roque, MD]

Hi.  It's possible that the liver metastases actually came from a previously undiscovered breast cancer, since the liver metastases turned out to be her-2 positive.  If your mom did  have breast cancer, you and your sister are probably at an increased risk.  How old are you and your sister, by the way?  You can have a breast self-examination done at any time, just to check for any lumps. If you're 35 years old or older, you can have a breast exam done by a doctor, as well as a mammogram done yearly, to screen for malignancy.

[kedskare]

My mom has her gullbladder removed and they found cancer, by this time it met. to her liver. they were treating it with colon cancer chemos. 4 months later they did a biopsie of her gullbladder cancer for the her2, it was positive. Does that mean it was breast cancer first? She has sence pasted away and I'm concerned for my sister and me, there is a history of breast cancer in our family. Back to my mom she had a bad mamagram, so they did a ultrasound and said it look like fibroids so we were happy. But now I wonder if thats were it started and should my sister and me be concerned. thanks

[Fernando Roque, MD]

Hi.  The Her-2 epidermal growth factor receptor is also present in normal breast cells.  In breast cancer cells, this receptor is markedly overexpressed.  The laboratory tests for Her-2, whether FISH or IHC, not only detect the presence of the Her-2 receptor, but also quantify if it's overexpressed. Her-2 "positivity" doesn't depend only on the presence of the receptor, but also its quantity.  So if you don't have breast cancer, although the tests will detect Her-2 receptor presence, the quantity is not increased so the result comes out as not significantly positive.