Figure 6. Clusterin is expressed in mature macrophages and not in immature myeloid cells in human breast tumor tissues from patients with invasive ductal carcinoma.

Twenty formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded human normal breast tissues (A) and breast cancer samples (B) were stained for sCLU and the numbers of macrophages (red circle) and immature myeloid cells (black circle) were visually assessed by morphology. The intensity of sCLU staining was scored from 0 to 3, with 0 being the lowest, which is shown next to each circle. Note that the breast cancer cells are all sCLU positive, as has been reported by others. (C) The twenty samples from normal and breast cancer were then analyzed for the average distribution of mature and immature myeloid cells expressing sCLU and the total number of mature macrophages or immature macrophage cells per tissue sample is shown. (D) Intensity of sCLU staining for each macrophage or immature myeloid cells per tissue sample. P values (***P < 0.001) were generated by Student’s t test.