Correlation between Sex Chromatin and Female Breast Tumour in Paraffin Sections, Buccal Smears and Peripheral Blood Films.
BACKGROUND
Sex chromatin is a plano-convex to triangular DNA mass measuring approximately 1μm in size and lying adjacent to the inner side of nuclear membrane in the somatic cells of the females. There is consistent loss in the sex chromatin percentage in the carcinoma cases in comparison to benign lesions and normal individuals.


OBJECTIVE
To know the correlation between the sex chromatin status in female breast tumors on paraffin sections, buccal smears and peripheral blood films.


METHODS
The study was conducted on the paraffin sections prepared from carcinoma breast patients from their lumpectomy and mastectomy specimens. Buccal smears and a peripheral blood films were also prepared from each patient.


CONCLUSIONS
The control group had shown a mean sex chromatin of 54.6±6.73% which was found to be similar to the mean sex chromatin percentage in the fibroadenoma breast cases i.e. 54.91±6.06%. However, the mean sex chromatin in the carcinoma breast cases was markedly reduced i.e. 8.22±6.03%. Maximum no. of fibroadenoma cases (67%) were in the younger age group i.e. 15 to 25 year, while maximum number of carcinoma breast cases (42%) occurred in the 4(th) and 5(th) decade.


CONCLUSIONS
There is a loss of sex chromatin in cases of carcinoma breast and is associated with poor histological markers. A statistically significant correlation was also found between sex chromatin status and microscopic grading in carcinoma breast. The tumors with higher microscopic grade had lower sex chromatin as compared to those with lower microscopic grading.
Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, Government Medical College Patiala Punjab, India .
Bodal
B
Vijay Kumar
Junior Resident, Department of Pathology, Government Medical College Patiala Punjab, India .
Kalra
K
Ravneet
Professor and Head, Department of Pathology, Government Medical College Patiala Punjab, India .
Bal
B
Manjit Singh
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, Government Medical College Patiala Punjab, India .
Bhagat
B
Ranjeev
Professor and Head, Department of Pathology, Government Medical College Patiala Punjab, India .
Gurdeep Singh
GS
Kalyan
Junior Resident, Department of Pathology, Government Medical College Patiala Punjab, India .
Gupta
G
Nishit
Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, Government Medical College Patiala Punjab, India .
Suri
S
Anil
Junior Resident, Department of Pathology, Government Medical College Patiala Punjab, India .
Richika
Carcinoma breast; Fibroadenoma; Sex chromatin