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Usefulness of liquid-based cytology in hormone receptor analysis of breast cancer specimens

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Abstract

Immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis of the hormone receptor (HR) in breast cancer cytology is an important issue nowadays. Several studies have shown discrepancy in the HR status between the primary tumor and metastases. Cytology can be used for patients with metastatic disease. Although cytological assessment of HR is an excellent method, it has not been routinely used because of the difficulty in consistently preparing multiple good quality slides. Liquid-based cytology (LBC) preparation is considered as the key to resolving the aforementioned problem; however, few studies have reported the HR assessment in breast cancer using LBC. Therefore, the HR status of LBC slides from 82 breast cancers was compared with that of the corresponding surgical specimens. The HR assay in both the LBC slides and surgical specimens was conducted by IHC using an autostainer. For the IHC staining, the protocol recommended by the manufacturer for paraffin-embedded sections was used for both the cytology and histology specimens. The HR results of the cytology agreed with those of the histology in 80 of the 82 cases (accuracy rate, 98%) for estrogen receptor, and in 78 of the 82 cases (accuracy rate, 95%) for progesterone receptor. The overall accuracy of the HR status on the cytology and the histology was 99% in 81 of the 82 cases. In conclusion, in HR analysis of breast cancers, LBC followed by IHC using an autostainer was useful for the standard processing of cytological specimens and showed a good correlation with the results of analysis on the histology specimens.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Cancer Research from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, and Grants-in-Aid for Clinical Research from the National Hospital Organization.

We thank Dr. Takahiro Hasebe of the Center for Cancer Control and Information Services, National Cancer Center for his precious advice on this research.

Conflict of interest statement

We have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Laboratory, National Hospital Organization Shikoku Cancer Center, 160 Kou, Minamiumemoto-machi, Matsuyama, Ehime, 791-0280, Japan

    Rieko Nishimura, Tamami Yamamoto, Akihiro Kagawa & Sachiko Morita

  2. Department of Breast Oncology, National Hospital Organization Shikoku Cancer Center, 160 Kou, Minamiumemoto-machi, Matsuyama, Ehime, 791-0280, Japan

    Kenjiro Aogi, Daisuke Takabatake & Seiki Takashima

  3. Department of Pathology, National Hospital Organization Shikoku Cancer Center, 160 Kou, Minamiumemoto-machi, Matsuyama, Ehime, 791-0280, Japan

    Norihiro Teramoto

Authors
  1. Rieko Nishimura
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  2. Kenjiro Aogi
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  3. Tamami Yamamoto
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  4. Daisuke Takabatake
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  5. Seiki Takashima
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  6. Norihiro Teramoto
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  7. Akihiro Kagawa
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  8. Sachiko Morita
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Correspondence to Rieko Nishimura.

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Nishimura, R., Aogi, K., Yamamoto, T. et al. Usefulness of liquid-based cytology in hormone receptor analysis of breast cancer specimens. Virchows Arch 458, 153–158 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-010-1025-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-010-1025-2

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