These findings are in accordance with an ERα-opposing oncosuppressive role of ERβ2 in mammary carcinogenesis along the HUT-AH-DCIS1/2 pathway.

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The present study is the first dealing with the demonstration of estrogen receptors (ER) in up to 8-year-old paraffin blocks of endometrial curettage samples routinely fixed in 10% formalin. The Mab ER-ICA was used in a modified peroxidase-antiperoxidase method after pretreatment of paraffin sections with pronase. Eleven cases with proliferative, 11 cases with secretory endometrium, 20 cases with adenocystic, 21 with adenomatous hyperplasia and 27 endometrial adenocarcinomas were tested. The two main parameters, namely the percentage of ER-positive cells and the intensity of the immunostaining, were higher in the proliferative phase followed in a declining sequence by adenocystic hyperplasia, adenomatous hyperplasia, adenocarcinomas and the secretory phase of endometrium. Interestingly, the intensity of the immunostaining showed a positive relationship to the percentage of ER-positive cells (r = 0.93, p < 0.001). It seems that the immunohistochemical demonstration of ER in paraffin sections of uterine specimens is an easy and reliable method for the mapping of the heterogenous expression of ER and their comparative study with the well preserved histopathological features even in old archival paraffin-embedded material.

Newly diagnosed invasive breast cancers should be evaluated for Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2) status by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and/or in situ hybridisation (ISH) to determine eligibility for trastuzumab or other HER2-targeted therapies. Previous reports of high discordance rates between IHC and ISH have raised concerns over the accuracy of HER2 testing, especially when IHC is conducted locally. This study aimed to determine the rate of false-negative IHC results at three pathology centres (one central, two local) in Greece by central retesting of 240 prospectively collected invasive breast cancers scored as IHC 0/1+ at initial testing. All samples were from female patients (median age 58.0 years). Initial IHC tests utilised either the CB11 (159/239; 66.5%) or 4B5 (80/239; 33.5%) antibodies and were scored as 0 in 105/240 cases (43.8%) and 1+ in 135/240 cases (56.3%). All samples were centrally retested by automated silver in situ hybridisation (SISH). Of 237 samples with SISH staining suitable for assessment, 223 (94.1%; 95% confidence interval 90.3–96.5%) were classed as SISH-negative (HER2:chromosome enumeration probe 17 (CEP17) <1.8). Eight tested SISH-positive (HER2:CEP17 >2.2), providing a false-negative rate of 3.4%. A further four samples (1.7%) exhibited equivocal amplification status (HER2:CEP17 1.8–2.2) and two (0.8%) showed polysomy of chromosome 17. The proportion of SISH-negative results did not significantly differ between the IHC 0 and 1+ subgroups (95.2% vs. 93.2%; p=0.505). In conclusion, the low observed rate of false-negative IHC results in this study supports the use of IHC for initial HER2 status assessment in local or central laboratories in Greece.