title: Estrogen receptor α (ERα) status evaluation using RNAscope in situ hybridization: a reliable and complementary method for IHC in breast cancer tissues.
abstract: Estrogen receptor α (ERα) plays a significant role in the development of breast cancer and has been used clinically as an endocrine therapeutic target. Currently, clinical laboratories use immunohistochemistry (IHC) to determine the ERα status of patients in order to distinguish those who would benefit from endocrine therapy. This method is highly subjective, requires a large amount of tumor tissue, and may generate false-negative results. To improve the detection of ERα, we used a new RNA in situ hybridization technique (RNAscope) and compared its use with IHC in 72 breast cancer tissues (47 ERα positive and 25 ERα negative). Then we evaluated ERα mRNA by RT-qPCR with RNAscope. An unobvious difference was found between reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and IHC, but a positive correlation was found between RNAscope and IHC. In addition, breast cancer is a highly heterogeneous cancer, and RNAscope could easily reveal the heterogeneity in breast cancer. Moreover, we found that some ERα IHC-based negative and RNAscope-based positive test results were detected as positive after testing with IHC again. Our findings suggest that RNAscope may be a complementary method for improving the detection of patient ERα status and has potential clinical utility.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrine and Breast Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Xiuwei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Chongqing City Key Lab of Translational Medical Research in Cognitive Development and Disorders, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Shipeng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Townsend Family Laboratories, Department of Psychiatry, Brain Research Center, Graduate Program in Neuroscience, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: Weihong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Chongqing Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology and Epigenetics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Tingxiu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrine and Breast Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Chengcheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrine and Breast Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrine and Breast Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrine and Breast Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Yijia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrine and Breast Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China. Electronic address: liushengchun1968@163.com.
authors.forename: Shengchun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics*; D001706:Biopsy; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C506487:ESR1 protein, human; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha; D012333:RNA, Messenger
keywords: Breast cancer; Estrogen receptor α; Heterogeneity; Immunohistochemistry; RNAscope; Real-time RT-PCR