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Individualization of breast cancer based on histopathological features and molecular alterations

  • Conference Paper
  • Presidential symposium: Individualized diagnosis for tailored treatment of breast cancer
  • Published:
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Abstract

Histopathological findings and molecular alterations well reflect the biological properties of individual primary breast carcinomas. Specifically, pT (size of the invasive component), pN (number of metastatic lymph nodes), histological or nuclear grade, lymphovascular invasion, hormone receptors, and HER2 (c-erbB-2) gene overexpresison or amplification are known to be effective markers for assessing the risk of operable primary breast carcinoma, albeit incompletely. It is expected that additional molecular markers and novel diagnostic tools will be developed in the future to facilitate a more accurate characterization of higher risk node-negative breast carcinomas.

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Abbreviations

CGH:

Comparative genomic hybridization

CK:

Cytokeratin

DCIS:

Ductal carcinoma in situ

EGFR:

Epidermal growth factor receptor

ER:

Estrogen receptor

HE:

Hematoxylin and eosin

IHC:

Immunohistochemistry

ITC:

Isolated tumor cells

LCIS:

Lobular carcinoma in situ

ly:

Lymphatic invasion

NCCN:

National Comprehensive Cancer Network

pCR:

Pathological complete response

PgR:

Progesterone receptor

PST:

Primary systemic therapies

SLN:

Sentinel lymph node

SNNS:

Sentinel lymph node navigation surgery

v:

Vascular invasion

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Cancer Research (16–6) from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, and by a Grant-in-Aid from the Foundation for the Promotion of Defense Medicine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Basic Pathology, National Defense Medical College, 3-2 Namiki, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-8513, Japan

    Hitoshi Tsuda

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  1. Hitoshi Tsuda
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Correspondence to Hitoshi Tsuda.

Additional information

This article is based on a presentation delivered at Presidential Symposium 1, “Breast cancer: individualized diagnosis for tailored treatment,” held on 29 June 2007 at the 15th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Breast Cancer Society in Yokohama.

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Tsuda, H. Individualization of breast cancer based on histopathological features and molecular alterations. Breast Cancer 15, 121–132 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12282-008-0032-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12282-008-0032-5

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