title: Morphometric analysis and p63 improve the identification of myoepithelial cells in breast lesion cytology.
abstract: Nuclear findings, including size, shape, chromatin, or nucleoli, affect the cytological diagnosis and were found to have prognostic significance in several studies based on morphometric analysis. In this study, we investigated whether the nucleus area relates to the appearance of p63-positive myoepithelial cells. The nucleus area was analyzed in 101 breast cancers and 14 benign breast lesions using morphometric analysis and immunohistochemistry for p63. Breast cancer patients were classified into two groups; small nucleus group (n = 19) and large nucleus group (n = 82) based on the average nucleus area of ductal cells. The nucleus area was significantly negative correlating with p63-positive myoepithelial cells (P = 0.031), and there was a significant positive correlation with small cells with hyperchromatic nuclei (P = 0.002). Although small cells with hyperchromatic nuclei were similar to myoepithelial cells, there was no significant correlation with the appearance of small cells with hyperchromatic nuclei and p63-positive myoepithelial cells in breast cancer patients (P = 0.189). Although the identification of normal myoepithelial cells is mainly performed by immunostaining for p63, morphometric analysis of the nucleus area also suggests the existence of p63-positive myoepithelial cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Pathology, Kurume University Hospital, 67 Asahi-machi, Kurume, Japan.
authors.forename: Emiko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aikawa
authors.forename: Akihiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kawahara
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hattori
authors.forename: Masayoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kage
mesh_terms: D001940:Breast / Q000473:pathology; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000473:pathology; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism*; D014157:Transcription Factors; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C115051:TP63 protein, human; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins