Nationwide survey on HER2 and PD-L1 testing practices in gastric cancer across Japan.

Abstract

Background: Since HER2 and PD-L1 testing are key to selecting drugs for first-line treatments in advanced gastric cancer, evaluating differences in these tests among institutions is necessary to standardize treatment.

Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted targeting institutions certified by the Japanese Gastric Cancer Association.

Results: Responses were obtained from 155 institutions. Most institutions performed HER2 testing in-house, while PD-L1 tests were largely outsourced. HER2 scores and PD-L1 CPS rates showed greater variability across institutions than anticipated. In the pre-analytic phase, 10% neutral buffered formalin was commonly used, with fixation practices generally following guidelines. Overall, the impact of fixation-related factors was limited, but in surgical specimens, longer fixation was associated with a higher proportion of score 0/1+ and a lower proportion of score 3+. When examining HER2 scores by institution, if a particular score had a high (or low) frequency in biopsy, the same trend was also seen in surgical specimens.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that not only factors related to specimen preparation, but also biases in evaluation criteria among pathologists may contribute to the significant variability among institutions. Standardization of pre- and post-analytic phases, coupled with appropriate training, is essential to achieve consistent gastric cancer therapy.