Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Clinical Pathology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Pathology
. 1997 Jan;50(1):27–29. doi: 10.1136/jcp.50.1.27

Oestrogen and progesterone receptor assessment in core biopsy specimens of breast carcinoma.

A Zidan 1, J S Christie Brown 1, D Peston 1, S Shousha 1
PMCID: PMC499707  PMID: 9059351

Abstract

AIMS: To assess the suitability of core biopsy specimens for the immunohistological assessment of oestrogen and progesterone receptors in breast carcinoma. METHODS: Thirty consecutive cases of clinically palpable breast carcinoma, from which both core and excision biopsy specimens were available, were examined. Routinely processed paraffin wax sections were stained using the specific monoclonal antibodies 1D5 (Dako) for oestrogen receptor and NCL-PGR (Novocastra) for progesterone receptor, after an antigen retrieval step using a pressure cooker. Staining results were assessed using the H score system with the results being expressed as negative, weakly positive, moderately positive or strongly positive. RESULTS: Twenty six biopsy specimens contained enough tumour tissue for assessment. Absolute agreement between scoring categories was seen in 19 (73%) cases for oestrogen receptors. However, when all positive categories were added together, agreement between core and excision biopsy specimens increased to 93% (24 cases). Disagreement was seen only in two cases which stained positive in the core biopsy specimens and negative in the excision biopsy specimens. For progesterone receptors, the absolute agreement between all scoring categories was seen only in 11 (42%) cases. When all positive categories were considered together, agreement increased to 69% (18 cases). Five cases were progesterone receptor positive in core but not in excisional biopsy specimens, while three cases were negative in core but positive in excisional biopsy specimens. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that core biopsy specimens can be reliably used for oestrogen receptor assessment, but are less reliable for progesterone receptor assessment, probably because of a greater heterogeneity of progesterone receptor staining.

Full text

PDF
27

Images in this article

28Image
on p.28

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Brotherick I., Shenton B. K., Lennard T. W. Are fine-needle breast aspirates representative of the underlying solid tumour? A comparison of receptor levels, ploidy and the influence of cytokeratin gates. Br J Cancer. 1995 Sep;72(3):732–737. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1995.402. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Carty N. J., Ravichandran D., Carter C., Mudan S., Royle G. T., Taylor I. Randomized comparison of fine-needle aspiration cytology and Biopty-Cut needle biopsy after unsatisfactory initial cytology of discrete breast lesions. Br J Surg. 1994 Sep;81(9):1313–1314. doi: 10.1002/bjs.1800810917. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Goldberg D. E., Stuart J., Koerner F. C. Progesterone receptor detection in paraffin sections of human breast cancers by an immunoperoxidase technique incorporating microwave heating. Mod Pathol. 1994 Apr;7(3):401–406. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Goulding H., Pinder S., Cannon P., Pearson D., Nicholson R., Snead D., Bell J., Elston C. W., Robertson J. F., Blamey R. W. A new immunohistochemical antibody for the assessment of estrogen receptor status on routine formalin-fixed tissue samples. Hum Pathol. 1995 Mar;26(3):291–294. doi: 10.1016/0046-8177(95)90060-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Low S. C., Dixon A. R., Bell J., Ellis I. O., Elston C. W., Robertson J. F., Blamey R. W. Tumour oestrogen receptor content allows selection of elderly patients with breast cancer for conservative tamoxifen treatment. Br J Surg. 1992 Dec;79(12):1314–1316. doi: 10.1002/bjs.1800791224. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. McCarty K. S., Jr, Miller L. S., Cox E. B., Konrath J., McCarty K. S., Sr Estrogen receptor analyses. Correlation of biochemical and immunohistochemical methods using monoclonal antireceptor antibodies. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1985 Aug;109(8):716–721. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Pinder S. E., Elston C. W., Ellis I. O. The role of pre-operative diagnosis in breast cancer. Histopathology. 1996 Jun;28(6):563–566. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2559.1996.d01-465.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Powles T. J., Hickish T. F., Makris A., Ashley S. E., O'Brien M. E., Tidy V. A., Casey S., Nash A. G., Sacks N., Cosgrove D. Randomized trial of chemoendocrine therapy started before or after surgery for treatment of primary breast cancer. J Clin Oncol. 1995 Mar;13(3):547–552. doi: 10.1200/JCO.1995.13.3.547. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Sacks N. P., Baum M. Primary management of carcinoma of the breast. Lancet. 1993 Dec 4;342(8884):1402–1408. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(93)92759-m. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Sadler G. P., McGee S., Dallimore N. S., Monypenny I. J., Douglas-Jones A. G., Lyons K., Horgan K. Role of fine-needle aspiration cytology and needle-core biopsy in the diagnosis of lobular carcinoma of the breast. Br J Surg. 1994 Sep;81(9):1315–1317. doi: 10.1002/bjs.1800810918. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Sannino P., Shousha S. Demonstration of oestrogen receptors in paraffin wax sections of breast carcinoma using the monoclonal antibody 1D5 and microwave oven processing. J Clin Pathol. 1994 Jan;47(1):90–92. doi: 10.1136/jcp.47.1.90. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Vielh P., Magdelénat H., Mosseri V., Remvikos Y., di Bonito L. Immunocytochemical determination of estrogen and progesterone receptors on 50 fine-needle samples of breast cancer. A prospective study including biochemical correlation and DNA flow cytometric analysis. Am J Clin Pathol. 1992 Feb;97(2):254–261. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/97.2.254. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Pathology are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES