Quantitation of estrogen and progesterone receptors by immunocytochemical and image analyses

✍ Scribed by Douglas C. Aziz; Raj R. Barathur

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 91 KB
• Volume: 53
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0730-2312
• DOI: 10.1002/jcb.240531145

✦ Synopsis

The ability to detect estrogen and progesterone receptors by immunocytochemical analysis in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections has clear advantages over other techniques, including the ability to assay small biopsy specimens, fine needle aspirate samples, and archival material. Twenty-two cases of breast carcinoma were evaluated for estrogen and progesterone receptors by immunocytochemical analysis and enzyme immunoassay. Using a true color-based image analysis system, histograms of area versus the optical density of the positive staining nuclei were generated. A binary decision algorithm was derived from these histogram parameters by the Classification and Regression Trees (CART) computer program. Estimates generated by the algorithm for image analysis/immunocytochemical analysis had a 90% concordance with the enzyme immunoassay values. We conclude that quantitative immunocytochemical results for estrogen and progesterone receptor content in formalinfixed, paraffin-embedded tissue can be generated using image analysis.