Background/aim: Breast cancer is a complex disease with variability in clinical manifestation, response to current therapy, and biochemical and histological features among various subgroups. Histologic grading and immuno-histochemical evaluation of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2), and Ki-67 proliferation index play a crucial role in increasing the differential diagnostic value among various types of breast carcinoma. The aim of this study was to determine the histopathological and immuno-histochemical characteristics of breast tumors from a University Laboratory of Pathology in Greece.
Patients and methods: The study included female patients over 18 years of age, whose histopathological and immunohistochemical reports were stored in the archives of the First Department of Pathology of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. The study involved 197 female patients with a median age of 70 years and median tumor size of 2.6 cm.
Results: Most tumors were located at the left breast and ductal carcinoma was the most common histologic type (35.5%). Most tumors had histologic grade 2 (106, 53.8%), and were classified as TNM stage IIA (65, 33%). Most grade 1 and 2 tumors exhibited high expression of PR, whereas most grade 3 tumors had no PR expression. Moreover, patients with triple-negative cancer presented with grades 2 and 3 at a lower percentage compared to patients without a triple-negative phenotype (p=0.001).
Conclusion: The study provided valuable insights into the histopathological and immuno-histochemical characteristics involved in the development and progression of breast cancer.
Keywords: Breast cancer; ER; HER-2; Ki-67; PR; biomarkers; ductal carcinoma; e-cadherin; histological features; histopathological subtypes; immunohistochemistry; lobular carcinoma; molecular subtypes; pathology; predictive; triple-negative cancer.
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