Table 2.

Epithelial and stromal expression of COX-2 in breast cancers investigated

	ALG 1: percentage fraction of the COX-2 positive cells (0–100) with a mean value of all the results used for recognition of tumour overexpressing the COX-2 protein						ALG 2: percentage fraction of the COX-2 positive cells (0–100) with a cut-off of 10% used for recognition of tumour overexpressing the COX-2 protein						ALG 3: percentage fraction of the COX-2 positive cells (0–100) × staining intensity (1–3) with a median value of all the results used for recognition of tumour overexpressing the COX-2 protein
Anti-COX-2 antibody	Ab1		Ab2		Ab3		Ab1		Ab2		Ab3		Ab1		Ab2		Ab3
Type of the cells scored (E – epithelial; S – stromal)	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S
Cut-off value	5.1	4.2	21.1	9.8	43.0	19.0	10% of the cells with a moderate or strong staining						6.2	8.2	27.3	15.3	68.0	30.1
Percentage fraction of the tumours overexpressing COX-2	41.5	41.5	51.2	39.0	46.3	48.8	0	2.4	26.8	29.3	26.8	80.5	48.8	48.8	48.8	48.8	48.8	46.3

Staining was evaluated with three different algorithms (ALG1, ALG2 and ALG3) applied to data obtained using three different anti-COX-2 antibodies (Ab1, Ab2 and Ab3).