Estrogen receptor immunocytochemical assay (ERICA) and laminin detection in 130 breast carcinomas and computerized (Samba 200) multiparametric quantitative analysis on tissue sections.

An estrogen receptor immunocytochemical assay (ER-ICA) was applied to 130 malignant breast carcinomas and the results were compared to those of steroid binding assays performed on cytosol extracts of the same tumors. Also laminin (lam) distribution was studied in the same tumors. A semi quantitative analysis and a computerized image analysis system (SAMBA 200 TITN) were used to evaluate the positive ER and lam immunostaining. Positive ER immunostaining was always located in the nucleus of tumor cells and of normal cells in adjacent breast tissue. When immunohistochemical staining was correlated to biochemical assay there was a 88% correlation staining intensity and percentage of positive cells significantly increased (p less than 0.01) with cytosolic ER levels. Lam was observed within vascular and epithelial basement membranes (BMs). Lam staining displayed a continuous linear pattern in intraductal carcinomas or was heterogeneously distributed with a discontinuous linear pattern in invasive carcinomas. No intracellular lam staining was detected. In tumors, laminin immunostaining revealed often multilayered BMs and abnormal multilayered BMs in blood vessels in the tumor stroma. These results indicated that (ER-ICA) is to date the most reliable histochemical method for ER detection and correlated in 88% of the cases with ER biochemical assay ER-ICA provides additional information for heterogeneous ER distribution within tumors ER-ICA as a qualitative method is unable to replace the quantitative ER determination obtained with biochemical assay ER-ICA based on ER antigenic site detection is complementary to biochemical assay based on ER functional site determination laminin immunostaing constitutes a new approach to the heterogeneous BM changes occurring in carcinomas, and permits a better understanding of cell diffusion processes and of stroma-tumor cells interactions: the consistent extracellular lam distribution in contact with the stroma, indicates that the latter plays an important role in the assembly of BM components the SAMBA 200 permits a reliable accurate evaluation of the percentage of the immunostained cells and surfaces.