title: Immunohistochemical detection of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 in formalin-fixed breast carcinoma cell block preparations: correlation of results to corresponding tissue block (needle core and excision) samples.
abstract: Evaluation of ER, PR and Her 2 are routinely performed on breast carcinomas. For accurate detection of these markers, compliance with the ASCO/CAP guidelines is recommended. Our previous study showed that alcohol fixation did not affect ER results when alcohol-fixed cell block (CB) sections were compared to formalin-fixed tissue sections, while PR and Her2 showed less concordance. The aim of this study was to evaluate and to compare ER, PR and Her2 IHC results on formalin-fixed CB sections to those observed on subsequent surgical (needle core or resection) specimens (SS). Fifty cases of formalin fixed CB samples obtained from primary (18%) and metastatic (82%) breast carcinomas were studied, all of which had subsequent SS available. ER, PR, and Her2 IHC studies were done on all samples and results were compared. ER results on formalin-fixed CB samples showed excellent correlation with SS (correlation coefficient cc = 0.82). While there was minimal improvement in PR results (cc = 0.433), Her2 detection did not improve by formalin fixation (cc = 0.439). Formalin fixation for CB preparations does not significantly improve the already good detection of ER positive breast tumors. The concordance rate in PR and IHC results between formalin-fixed CB and SS samples showed improvement as compared with the alcohol-fixed CB results. However, there was no improvement in detection of Her2 overexpression by using formalin fixation on cytology specimens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA.
authors.forename: Mary D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Kinsella
authors.forename: George G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Birdsong
authors.forename: Momin T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Siddiqui
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Krisztina Z
authors.initials: KZ
authors.lastname: Hanley
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000556:secondary; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005404:Fixatives; D005557:Formaldehyde; D005784:Gene Amplification; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008408:Mastectomy; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000378:metabolism*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D005404:Fixatives; D005557:Formaldehyde; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone