Breast cancer characteristics

The cancer will also be tested for a number of other characteristics that can help your doctors decide how it is likely to respond to particular kinds of treatment or how aggressive it may be. These include:
Hormone receptivity. These tests determine whether the cancer cells contain estrogen and/or progesterone receptors. Those that do may respond well to hormone therapies that block the production of female hormones in the body. Learn how hormone therapy works to treat hormone-receptive breast cancers.
Tumor-marker testing/immunohistochemistry (IHC). Also known as human epidermal growth factor 2, or c-erB-2, Her2/neu is a protein necessary for normal cell growth. However, some cancers — including some breast cancers — produce too much of this protein.
High levels of HER2/neu often mean that a tumor is more aggressive, and may respond differently to certain cancer treatments. For example, women with high levels of HER2/neu may be good candidates for certain biological therapies. Learn more about biological therapies in breast cancer treatment.

The cancer will also be tested for a number of other characteristics that can help your doctors decide how it is likely to respond to particular kinds of treatment or how aggressive it may be. These include:
Hormone receptivity. These tests determine whether the cancer cells contain estrogen and/or progesterone receptors. Those that do may respond well to hormone therapies that block the production of female hormones in the body. Learn how hormone therapy works to treat hormone-receptive breast cancers.
Tumor-marker testing/immunohistochemistry (IHC). Also known as human epidermal growth factor 2, or c-erB-2, Her2/neu is a protein necessary for normal cell growth. However, some cancers — including some breast cancers — produce too much of this protein.
High levels of HER2/neu often mean that a tumor is more aggressive, and may respond differently to certain cancer treatments. For example, women with high levels of HER2/neu may be good candidates for certain biological therapies. Learn more about biological therapies in breast cancer treatment.