Abstract
AIMS1) To evaluate the estrogen receptor(ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and Her-2 /neu expression in invasive breast carcinomas by immunohistochemistry and 2) to compare the pattern of expression with clinico-pathological parameters like patient's age, tumor size, mitotic index, histological type and grade and lymph node metastasis.METHODSThis is a retrospective study of 321 female invasive breast carcinomas diagnosed in the Department of Histopathology, Apollo Speciality Hospital, Chennai from January 2009 to June 2010.RESULTSThe age of the patients ranged from 24 to 99 years, with a mean of 53.8, and the majority of the tumors were T2 (83.8% in range of 2-5 cms), predominantly histological grade 2 (57.3%), followed by grade 3 (33.3%). ER, PR and Her-2/neu expression was seen in 59, 51 and 27% of cases respectively. Triple-negative breast cancers constituted 25 % of our cases. We also found characteristic associations between hormonal receptor and Her-2/neu expression and various clinico-pathological parameters.CONCLUSIONSThe hormonal receptor expression appears to be lower in the Indian population compared to the West. A significant proportion of tumors in our study with Her2/neu overexpression also showed ER and PR positivity. Triple-negative breast tumors were most commonly grade 3, in women aged more than 50 years.