title: Comparison of immunohistochemistry assays and real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction for analyzing hormone receptor status in human breast carcinoma.
abstract: The estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR) status of 163 surgical breast cancer specimens determined on real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using frozen tumor tissue were compared with that determined using three automated immunohistochemistry (IHC) assays including Dako (Glostrup, Denmark), Ventana (Tucson, AZ, USA) and BioGenex (San Ramon, CA, USA) assay. All specimens were semiquantified according to the Allred score and J-score. The cut-offs for ER determined by log (ER/glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH)) were -3.6 and -3.2 based on the Allred score and J-score, respectively, and those for PgR determined by log (PgR/GAPDH) were -3.2 and -2.8, respectively. The Allred total score (TS) and the J-score for ER and PgR on IHC were significantly correlated with the result on RT-PCR (P < 0.00001). There was a high degree of concordance among ER and PgR status on IHC and those on RT-PCR, suggesting that RT-PCR is a useful method for evaluation of ER and PgR status. Some discrepancies between the IHC and RT-PCR results were identified, however. Accordingly, further studies of RT-PCR assays for hormone receptor (HR) are necessary with regard to biological behavior and responsiveness to hormone therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Saitama Medical University, Hidaka, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Miyo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oda
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Arihiro
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kataoka
authors.forename: Akihiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Osaki
authors.forename: Toshimasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Asahara
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohdan
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018275:Carcinoma, Lobular / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone