C-erbB-2 oncoprotein in screen-detected breast carcinoma: An immunohistological study

✍ Scribed by Salma Soomro; P. Taylor; H. M. Shepard; M. Feldmann; H. D. Sinnett; S. Shousha

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: French
• Weight: 344 KB
• Volume: 55
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0020-7136
• DOI: 10.1002/ijc.2910550112

✦ Synopsis

This study was aimed at comparing screen-detected and symptomatic breast carcinomas with regard to the prevalence of positive immunostaining for c-erb-B-2 oncoprotein. Paraffin sections of 8 I breast carcinomas detected through the National Screening Programme were examined for the over-expression of c-erb6-2 oncoprotein using the avidin-biotin immunoperoxidase technique and 2 different specific antibodies: 2 IN and 4D5. Twenty-one other carcinomas detected in symptomatic patients were similarly examined for comparison. The screendetected lesions were of 2 types: palpable and impalpable which required needle localization prior to surgical removal. Of the 8 I screen-detected tumours, only 8 were c-erbB-2 positive, compared with 5 out of 2 I non-screen-detected tumours. When only invasive carcinomas were considered, 5 out of 63 screendetected cases were positive, compared with 5 out of 15 symptomatic cases. Four out of the 5 screen-detected positive invasive carcinomas were clinically palpable. Our results show an obvious trend towards a lower prevalence of c-erbB-2 oncoprotein over-expression in screen-detected carcinomas. As this over-expression is thought to be associated with increased tumour aggressiveness, the findings suggest a low prevalence of aggressive tumours in screen-detected lesions, particularly impalpable invasive carcinomas, identified so far.