Comparison of Estrogen, Progesterone and Her2 Receptors in Primary Breast Cancer and Paired Metastatic Lymph Nodes: An Immunohistochemical Study

Abstract

Background: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (Her2) are important prognostic factors of breast cancer. However, discordance between IHC findings of primary tumor and ipsilateral metastatic lymph nodes (IMLNs) has been reported that might affect the criteria for adjuvant therapies in breast cancer in the future. Methods: Sample size of the current study was estimated 50 (Macnemar test). We performed IHC for ER, PR, and Her2 on IMLNs of 50 paraffin embedded blocks of breast cancer patients with regional lymphadenopathy during the period. All-red score 2 was regarded as negative and 3 as positive for ER/PR. Her2 results were classified to 1+ ( 0 and 1+), 2+, and 3+. We used SPSS 16 to insert and analyze the data.

Internodal HER2 heterogeneity of axillary lymph node metastases in breast cancer patients

“…In the present study, we focused on internodal HER2 heterogeneity of the axillary lymph node metastases of BC and the differences in HER2 status between primary breast tumor and its metastases. Molecular differences between primary versus metastatic disease in BC are well studied and have been demonstrated using both IHC [16] and ISH [17] methods. Aurilio et al [18] performed a meta-analysis of studies investigating the discordance in ER, PR and HER2 status between primary breast tumor and corresponding relapse.…”