Reliance on hormone receptor assays of surgical specimens may compromise outcome in patients with breast cancer

Author(s): Mann B, Fahey VD, Feleppa F, Buchanan MR

Publication: J Clin Oncol, 2005, Vol. 23, Page 5148

PubMed ID: 16051956 PubMed Review Paper? No

Purpose of Paper

Conclusion of Paper

Studies

1. Study Purpose

   The purpose of this paper was to compare IHC staining of ER, PR and HER-2 in surgical and core biopsy breast cancer specimens.

   Summary of Findings:

   Concordance between staining of surgical and core specimens occurred 86% of the time for ER, 83% of the time for PR and 80% of the time for HER-2. Much of the discordance was attributed to core specimens exhibiting positive staining for ER, PR, and HER-2 while surgical specimens were negative 13%, 11%, and 1% of the time, respectively. Furthermore, in 17% of cases, the core was equivocal for HER-2 staining while the surgical specimen was negative. The authors believe that the false-negatives obtained from surgical specimens are likely attributable to fixation problems. In conclusion, the use of surgical specimens may produce false negatives for hormone receptor status IHC staining of breast cancers.

   Biospecimens

   • Tissue - Breast

   Preservative Types

   • Formalin

   Diagnoses:

   • Neoplastic - Carcinoma

   Platform:

   Analyte	Technology Platform
   Protein	Immunohistochemistry

   Pre-analytical Factors:

   Classification	Pre-analytical Factor	Value(s)
   Biospecimen Acquisition	Method of tissue acquisition	Core needle biopsy Surgical resection

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