[Histochemical study of estradiol receptors and morphologic parameters in breast cancer]

We present our experience with the use of estradiol - bovine serum albumin (BSA) - fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) employed by LEE to localize estradiol receptors on frozen sections of breast carcinomas. 41 cases were studied on parallel sections with both conventional staining and a histochemical procedure. Heterogeneity of the cell population was usually found; however the histochemical result was influenced by morphological parameters. As far as histopathological types were concerned, invasive lobular carcinomas (3 cases) manifested a bright cytoplasmic fluorescence, while medullary carcinomas (3 cases) were poorly or non stained. Among infiltrating ductal carcinomas, well differentiated cases were composed of strongly fluorescent tubules, while poorly differentiated ones classified in BLOOM'S grade III were poorly stained. In most of the cases, the amount of stroma, mucus and carcinomatous or hyperplastic ductal components has to be taken in account to evaluate the fluorescence pattern of each microscopic field.