title: Rabbit antibodies for hormone receptors and HER2 evaluation in breast cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Novel rabbit monoclonal antibodies (RabMab) for estrogen (ER), progesterone (PR) receptors and HER2 evaluation by immunohistochemistry have recently been commercially released. We compared the RabMab anti-ER, anti-PR and anti-HER2 to mouse monoclonal antibodies (Mab) using tissue microarrays (TMA) of breast carcinomas.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two TMA containing breast carcinomas were built. Sections were immunostained using anti-ER and anti-PR, Mab and RabMab. The sections stained for ER and PR were evaluated considering positive those tumors in which more than 1% of the tumor cell nuclei stained moderate or strong. For HER2, the immunostained sections were evaluated using the ASCO/CAP guidelines for HER2. Chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH) was used as the gold standard for HER2 evaluation. CISH was evaluated using the Zymed HER2 CISH interpretation guidelines.
  
  
  RESULTS
  RabMab against ER have similar staining patterns compared to the 6F11 (Mab), but stronger than 1D5 (Mab) from three different suppliers. The RabMab against PR provide stronger and sharper immunohistochemical signals compared to Mab. The detection of HER2 protein overexpression was more prevalent with the polyclonal antibodies and RabMab than with the Mab. These were more specific than the RabMab, which were more sensitive when compared to CISH.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The novel RabMab against ER and PR showed higher intensity of staining than the Mab. The RabMab against HER2 is more sensitive than Mab, however, Mab presented more specificity than RabMab when compared to CISH for HER2 evaluation of breast carcinomas.
authors.affiliation: UFMG, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.
authors.forename: Rafael Malagoli
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Rocha
authors.forename: Cristiana Buzelin
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.forename: Fernanda Squarcio Fernandes
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Sanches
authors.forename: Gislene Fátima Silva
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Rocha
authors.forename: Flávio Nepomuceno de
authors.initials: FN
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Jorge Sérgio
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Reis-Filho
authors.forename: Maryou B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Lambros
authors.forename: Helenice
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gobbi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D046228:Microarray Analysis / Q000379:methods; D011817:Rabbits; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human