TIRGARI F, ZARE MEHRJARDI A, IRAVANLOO G. PREDICTION OF ESTROGEN RECEPTOR STATUS OF INVASIVE DUCTAL CARCINOMA OF BREAST BY HISTOLOGIC GRADE. Med J Islam Repub Iran 2000; 14 (2) :133-135
URL:
http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/article-1-877-en.html
From the Cancer Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran,
Abstract: (5248 Views)
In human breast cancer, estrogen receptor (ER) status of the tumor has prognostic
and therapeutic significance. However, facilities to study ER are not widely
available to us. We postulated that if there is a correlation between histologic
grade and ER status of invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), it may help predict the
ER status of the tumor. Of 8 4 cases of breast carcinoma referred to the Cancer
I:q.stitute of Tehran for immunohisto logic study of ER in 1995, 69 cases of IDC
that had adequate H & E stained slides were chosen. Using the Nottingham modifi.
cation of the Bloom-Richardson grading system of IDC, all cases were scored
by each of us separately. Conflicting cases were jointly reassessed until a consensus
was reached. Sections of paraffin blocks were stained for ER using the avidinbiotin
complex method and then they were assessed by a digital image analyzer.
There was an inverse relationship between ER positivity of tumors and each
of the grading parameters and theā¢ultimate grade that were all statistically significant
(p<0.0001). Moreover, further analysis revealed that low histologic grade
(with scores of3 or 4) had a 92.3% positive predictive value (range 62.9%-98 .2%)
for ER positivity. Similarly, histologic grade-=-in the presence of score 3 nuclei-had
an 83.9% positive predictive value (range 71.2%-91.9%) of ER negativity in tumor
cells. These findings suggest that in tumors with histologic grades at both
ends of the spectrum, ER status may reliably be predicted in a significant number
of cases.