Correlation of immunocytochemically demonstrated estrogen receptor distribution and histopathologic features in primary breast cancer.

Frozen sections of breast cancer specimens from 114 patients were assayed for the presence of estrogen receptor (ER) with an immunocytochemical method (ERICA). Significant positive correlations were found between receptor status and various pathologic features, including better histologic degrees of differentiation (P less than 0.001), smaller tumor cell size (P = 0.001), and lower levels of either tumor necrosis (P less than 0.001) or lymphocytic infiltration (P less than 0.001). There was a significant relationship between tubular formation and ER positivity (P = 0.003). This study confirms the results from some previous studies in which ER, assessed by biochemical means, has shown a correlation with good-prognosis pathologic features.