Cases Of Fibroadenoma Research Articles

The clinicopathological significance of neurogenesis in breast cancer.

BackgroundRecent reports support a novel biological phenomenon about cancer related neurogenesis. However, little is known about the clinicopathological significance of neurogenesis in breast cancer.MethodsA total of 196 cases, including 20 of normal tissue, 14 of fibroadenoma, 18 of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and 144 of invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) of the breast were used. The tissue slides were immunostained for protein gene product (PGP) 9.5 and S 100 to identify nerves. The correlation between the expression of PGP 9.5 and clinicopathological characteristics in IDC of the breast was assessed.ResultsWhile the PGP 9.5 positive nerve fibers are identified in all cases of normal breast tissue controls and in the tumor stroma of 61% (89/144) cases of invasive ductal carcinomas, PGP 9.5 positive nerve fibers are not seen in the tumor stroma of cases of fibroadenoma and DCIS. The percentage of tumors that exhibited neurogenesis increased from tumor grade I to tumor grade II and III (29.4% vs 71.8%, p < 0.0001). In addition, patients with less than 3 years of disease-free survival tended to have a higher positive expression of PGP 9.5 compared to patients with an equal or more than 3 years of disease-free survival (64.8% vs 46.7%, p = 0.035). Furthermore, moderate/strong expression of PGP 9.5 was found to be significantly related to microvessel density (MVD, p = 0.014). Interestingly, PGP 9.5 expression was significantly associated with higher MVD in the ER-negative (p = 0.045) and node-negative (p = 0.039) subgroups of IDC of the breast.ConclusionsThis data indicates that neurogenesis is associated with some aggressive features of IDC including tumor grade and patient survival as well as angiogenesis, especially in ER-negative and node-negative subtypes of IDC of the breast. Thus, neurogenesis appears to be associated with breast cancer progression and may play a role in therapeutic guidance for patients with ER-negative and node-negative invasive breast cancer.

Vulval Fibroadenoma - A Report of Two Cases with Review of Literature

Vulval fibroadenoma is rare benign tumours arising from ectopic breast tissue or mammary like anogenital glands tissue. Only a few cases are reported in medical literature. It is usually seen between 20 – 80 years of age. Excision usually has good prognosis and rarely recurs. We present two cases of vulval fibroadenoma, one in a 26 years woman as a well defined soft tissue mass in right labia major and other in a 45 years woman as a pedunculated soft tissue mass in left labia major.

Detection of serum VEGF and MMP-9 levels by Luminex multiplexed assays in patients with breast infiltrative ductal carcinoma.

The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of the combined detection of serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) by Luminex multiplexed assays for the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of breast cancer. Preoperative levels of serum VEGF and MMP-9 were detected via a lipid chip-based method in 301 breast cancer cases, 83 breast fibroadenoma cases and 40 healthy adults. Postoperative levels of VEGF and MMP-9 were also detected in 118 breast cancer cases. The levels of serum VEGF and MMP-9 in patients with breast infiltrative ductal carcinoma (IDC) were higher than those in the breast fibroadenoma and healthy control groups (P<0.05); there was no statistically significant difference between the breast fibroadenoma and healthy groups (P>0.05). The levels of VEGF and MMP-9 were shown to correlate with the clinical stage, tumor size and the lymph node metastasis status. However, the levels were not associated with age or gender (P>0.05). In addition, the serum level of MMP-9 exhibited a significantly correlation with the VEGF level (r=0.601, P<0.001). Subgroup analysis revealed that in patients with IDC, serum levels of VEGF and MMP-9 prior to surgery were significantly higher than those following surgery (P<0.05). Therefore, the serum levels of VEGF and MMP-9 can be used as markers for the diagnosis of breast IDC and may also be valuable for the prediction of lymph nodes metastasis.

Diagnostic and Prognostic Value of Pretreatment SUV in 18F-FDG/PET in Breast Cancer: Comparison with Apparent Diffusion Coefficient from Diffusion-Weighted MR Imaging

In oncology, the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measured by diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) and the standardized uptake value (SUV) from (18)F-FDG PET have similar clinical applications. The purpose of this study was to assess the correlation between the ADC and SUV and compare their potential in the diagnosis and prediction of prognosis in breast tumors. Seventy-nine female patients (age range, 19-69 y; average, 49.1 y) with 83 pathologically proven breast tumors were recruited. The diagnoses consisted of 70 malignant breast tumors (65 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma, 1 of medullary carcinoma, 1 of mucinous carcinoma, 1 of squamous cell carcinoma, and 2 of micropapillary carcinoma) and 13 benign breast tumors (4 cases of fibroadenoma, 4 of mastopathy, 3 of adenosis with atypia, and 2 of benign phyllodes tumor). All patients underwent mammary gland MR imaging with DWI and (18)F-FDG PET within a 2-wk interval. The patients' ADCs and SUVs were measured within the tumor by DWI and (18)F-FDG PET, respectively. For the malignant tumors, we evaluated the relationships among ADC, SUV, histopathologic appearance, and long-term prognosis. A significant difference (P < 0.05) was observed in both parameters (ADC and SUV) between the benign and malignant breast tumors, and the difference was more significant when we introduced a new parameter, SUV/ADC. There was a weak inverse correlation between ADC and SUV (r = -0.36; P = 0.06) among the total tumors; however, this correlation was not significant within the group of malignant tumors. High SUV was found to correlate with larger tumor size, higher nuclear grade, and the triple-negative hormonal receptor profile. High ADC was revealed to be correlated with negative progesterone receptor and positive human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 profile. Higher SUVs also showed a correlation with poor prognosis. No correlation was seen between ADC and prognosis. Both SUV and ADC are helpful parameters in differentiating benign from malignant breast tumors. The use of SUV and ADC in combination may help in the diagnosis because of their inverse relationship. High preoperative SUV was associated with poor prognosis, but the contribution of ADC to prognosis prediction was small.

Multinucleate Giant Cells in FNAC of Benign Breast Lesions: Its Significance.

Multinucleate giant cells are described in breast aspirates. However, due to its rarity very few cases have been described cytologically. Hence recognition and correct interpretation of their presence is difficult, yet crucial for accurate diagnosis. The prospective study of FNAC (fine needle aspirate cytology) of breast lumps was conducted for a period of six months. Direct smears were prepared from the material aspirated. In case of fluid aspirates, centrifuge done and cell sediment was used for making smears. Smears were alcohol fixed and stained with PAP/H&E or air dried smears were stained with Leishman stain. Further smears were subjected to immunocytochemistry using vimentin and CD34 markers to know the origin of multinucleate giant cells. We have reported 11 cases of breast lesions, which showed multinucleate giant cells on FNAC. Out of the 11 cases, Cytologically six cases showed granuloma debris with relative proportion of epithelioid histiocytes, lymphocytes, neutrophils and multinucleate giant cells. Two cases were diagnosed as acute suppurative granulomatous mastitis. Two cases of fibroadenoma and one case of fat necrosis showed multinucleate giant cells. Immunocytochemistry showed vimentin positivity in both stromal and histiocytic type of multinucleate giant cells and in isolated histiocytes. CD34 was focally positive in histiocytic type of giant cells. An effort is made to distinguish between the stromal and histiocytic type giant cells in non-neoplastic breast lesions. Further molecular studies have to be done to know the exact histogenesis and role of these multinucleate giant cells in benign lesions.

Spontaneous infarction in fibroadenoma, a diagnostic challenge on cytology: Report of two cases

Spontaneous infarction is an uncommon complication of fibroadenoma. Lack of knowledge of this rare entity may lead to an erroneous diagnosis of inflammatory lesion or malignancy on fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). We describe two cases of fibroadenoma with spontaneous infarction; one in a 20-year-old unmarried female while the other was a 35-year-old married female. Both patients presented with a history of sudden increase in size and pain for which they sought medical help. FNAC followed by histopathology was done. High index of suspicion would help cytopathologists to avoid misdiagnosis.

Fibroadenoma of the Ectopic Axillary Breast Tissue: Sonographic Appearances

Ectopic breast tissue is reported to occur in 0.4% - 6% of women. Breast neoplasms may develop in ectopic breast tissue, as in eutopic breast tissue. The most frequent condition in ectopic breast is breast cancer. Fibroadenomas of ectopic breast tissue have been reported, but are rare. We report two cases of fibroadenomas of ectopic axillary breast tissues. The sonographic appearance of the nodules was spherical and hypoechoic. We found the component of breast tissue near the nodule. It is important to diagnose fibroadenomas of ectopic breast tissue before a histologic examination.

Micronuclei in breast aspirates. Is scoring them helpful?

Micronuclei scoring can be used as a biomarker of genotoxic and chromosomal damage. 1. To score the spontaneously occurring micronuclei in the baseline population (fibroadenomas) and infiltrating ductal carcinoma, 2. Compare micronuclei frequency in benign tumors and various grades of infiltrating ductal carcinomas. Study was done at a tertiary hospital where 40 cases of fibroadenoma and 40 cases of infiltrating ductal carcinoma were taken up. May Grunwald Giemsa stained smears were analyzed for micronuclei scoring. Independent sample test (Student t test) was done to look for significant difference occurring between the controls among all grades of infiltrating ductal carcinoma. Mean micronuclei range in fibroadenoma was 1.8 ± 1.9. It was 12.1 ± 9.2, 27.4 ± 27.2 and 100 ± 36.5 in grade I, grade II and grade III carcinomas respectively. An increase in micronuclei values was seen from fibroadenoma to infiltrating ductal carcinoma. Micronuclei scoring can be used as a biomarker on fine needle aspiration cytology smears of breast carcinoma.

Correlation between Sex Chromatin and Female Breast Tumour in Paraffin Sections, Buccal Smears and Peripheral Blood Films.

Sex chromatin is a plano-convex to triangular DNA mass measuring approximately 1μm in size and lying adjacent to the inner side of nuclear membrane in the somatic cells of the females. There is consistent loss in the sex chromatin percentage in the carcinoma cases in comparison to benign lesions and normal individuals. To know the correlation between the sex chromatin status in female breast tumors on paraffin sections, buccal smears and peripheral blood films. The study was conducted on the paraffin sections prepared from carcinoma breast patients from their lumpectomy and mastectomy specimens. Buccal smears and a peripheral blood films were also prepared from each patient. The control group had shown a mean sex chromatin of 54.6±6.73% which was found to be similar to the mean sex chromatin percentage in the fibroadenoma breast cases i.e. 54.91±6.06%. However, the mean sex chromatin in the carcinoma breast cases was markedly reduced i.e. 8.22±6.03%. Maximum no. of fibroadenoma cases (67%) were in the younger age group i.e. 15 to 25 year, while maximum number of carcinoma breast cases (42%) occurred in the 4(th) and 5(th) decade. There is a loss of sex chromatin in cases of carcinoma breast and is associated with poor histological markers. A statistically significant correlation was also found between sex chromatin status and microscopic grading in carcinoma breast. The tumors with higher microscopic grade had lower sex chromatin as compared to those with lower microscopic grading.

Cytological image analysis with firefly nuclei detection and hybrid one-class classification decomposition

Recently a great increase of interest in digital pathology and cytology can be observed. Computer-aided diagnosis solutions, developed to assist physicians in the early detection of diseases, can improve accuracy and robustness of the diagnosis. In this paper we present a work in progress on a computer-aided breast cancer diagnosis. We propose an efficient medical decision support framework that allows distinguishing between benign, malignant and fibroadenoma cases. The nuclei detection procedure is based on the firefly algorithm. The procedure generates nuclei markers that are used in marker-controlled watershed segmentation. Image recognition is done by a novel classifier. Instead of using a multi-class approach we decided to implement one-class decomposition strategy, where each of the classes is represented by an ensemble of one-class classifiers. We propose to use a multi-objective memetic algorithm to select the pool of one-class predictors that display at the same time high diversity and consistency. Experiments conducted on a set of 675 real case medical images obtained from patients of the Regional Hospital in Zielona Góra showed that our framework returns highly satisfactory results, outperforming other state-of-the-art methods.

Artificial neural network in breast lesions from fine‐needle aspiration cytology smear

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are applied in engineering and certain medical fields. ANN has immense potential and is rarely been used in breast lesions. In this present study, we attempted to build up a complete robust back propagation ANN model based on cytomorphological data, morphometric data, nuclear densitometric data, and gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) of ductal carcinoma and fibroadenomas of breast cases diagnosed on fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). We selected 52 cases of fibroadenomas and 60 cases of infiltrating ductal carcinoma of breast diagnosed on FNAC by two cytologists. Essential cytological data was quantitated by two independent cytologists (SRM, PD). With the help of Image J software, nuclear morphomeric, densitometric, and GLCM features were measured in all the cases on hematoxylin and eosin-stained smears. With the available data, an ANN model was built up with the help of Neurointelligence software. The network was designed as 41-20-1 (41 input nodes, 20 hidden nodes, 1 output node). The network was trained by the online back propagation algorithm and 500 iterations were done. Learning was adjusted after every iteration. ANN model correctly identified all cases of fibroadenomas and infiltrating carcinomas in the test set. This is one of the first successful composite ANN models of breast carcinomas. This basic model can be used to diagnose the gray zone area of the breast lesions on FNAC. We assume that this model may have far-reaching implications in future.

English

UNUSUAL VARIANTS OF FIBROADENOMA BREAST DIAGNOSED ON CYTOLOGY Fibroadenomas are common benign breast tumours that display a characteristic morphology, although several epithelial and stromal variations exist which may pose a diagnostic difficulty. We are discussing a case series of four cases of benign fibroadenoma with morphological variations as observed on cytology smears in the department of Pathology, KGMU, Lucknow, UP. Juvenile fibroadenoma constitutes only 4% of the total fibroadenomas with incidence of 0.5% per year. Another very rare histological finding is the presence of multinucleated giant cells throughout the stroma of a benign fibroadenoma, more commonly found incidentally within the interlobular stroma of breast tissue. Similarly apocrine metaplasia has been found to be 28% in a case series (Arno Kuijper et.al) of 396 cases of fibroadenoma. It is important to identify these variants as they may be misinterpreted as malignancy.

Infarcted fibroadenoma of the breast: report of two new cases with review of the literature

IntroductionFibroadenomas are the most common benign breast tumors in young women. Infarction is rarely observed in fibroadenomas and when present, it is usually associated with pregnancy or lactation. Infarction can exceptionally occur as a complication of previous fine-needle aspiration biopsy or during lactation and pregnancy.Materials and methodsRetrospective review of 650 cases of fibroadenomas diagnosed at our institution during the 8-years period identified two cases of fibroadenomas with infarction (rate ~0.3%).ResultsTwo partially infarcted fibroadenomas were diagnosed on core biopsy and frozen section in an adolescent girl (13 years old) and in a young woman (25 years old), respectively. No preceding fine-needle aspiration biopsy was performed in these cases, nor were the patients pregnant or lactating at the time of the diagnosis.ConclusionSpontaneous infarction within fibroadenoma is a rare phenomenon in younger patients. The presence of necrosis on core biopsy or frozen section should be cautiously interpreted and is not a sign of malignancy.Virtual SlidesThe virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/1556060549847356

Abstract B104: Expressions of PCNA in triple negative breast cancers and Their clinical significance

Abstract Objective: To study expressions of matrix metalloproteinase-13 (PCNA) in triple negative (ER-, PR-, HER2-) breast cancers and evaluate their clinical significance. Methods: The immunohistochemistry SP method was used to evaluate the expressions of PCNA in 32 cases of triple negative breast cancers, 24 cases of HR breast cancer (ER+/PR+, HER-2-), 12 cases of HER2 breast cancer (ER-, PR-, HER2+) and 12 cases of breast fibroadenoma and their correlations to clinicopathologic features were analyzed. Results: The expressions of PCNA were significantly higher in the triple negative breast cancers than in breast fibroadenoma and HR breast cancers (P&amp;lt;0.05). Furthermore, the expression of PCNA was significantly higher in the triple negative breast cancers than in HER2 breast cancers (P &amp;lt;0.05). In the triple negative breast cancers, PCNA expression was associated with axillary lymph node metastasis and TNM stage (P &amp;lt;0.05), but it was not correlated with patients age (P &amp;gt;0.05). Correlation analysis showed that PCNA expression was positively correlated in the triple negative breast can cers, HR breast cancers and HER2 breast cancers (P &amp;lt;0.05). Conclusion: There is a close relationship between PCNA the occurrence and development of triple negative breast cancers, and PCNA could serve as important indexes in the aspect of invasiveness and metastasis in triple negative breast cancers. Citation Format: Peng Jiaping, meng qun. Expressions of PCNA in triple-negative breast cancers and their clinical significance. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2012 Oct 16-19; Anaheim, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Prev Res 2012;5(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B104.

Correlation of ultrasonographic types of breast fibroadenomas with pathologic findings

Objective To explore the correlation of ultrasonographic,pathologic,and clinical findings of breast fibroadenomas.Methods 157 cases of breast fibroadenomas demonstrated by pathologic findings were examined with color Doppler ultrasound prior to biopsy.Images were classified according to ultrasound characteristics and analysed with latter pathologic findings.Results Ultrasound images of 157 cases could be divided into 6 types:uniformity( n =82),linage( n =37),bicolor( n =15),nodule-in-nodule (n =3),cyst-massity mixed ( n =9),calcify( n =11).5 cases were mistakenly judged to breast cancer on ultrasound images(1 ease in the linage,1 case in the cyst-mass mixed,3 cases in the calcify).Accurate ratio of ultrasound diagnosis was 96.82％.Pathologic finding:①Uniformity type,hyperplasia of both the gland and fibrous tissue of tumor in order.② Linage type,hyperplasia fibrous tissue in belt.③ Bicolor type,significant difference in the proportion and arrangement of the hyperplasia gland and fibrous tissue.④Nodule-in-nodule type,extensive hemorrhagic infarction in tumor.⑤Cyst-massity mixed type,hydatoncus,metaplasia in great sweat gland,hyperplasia conduit epithelial,conduit cystic-expansion.⑥ Calcify type,fibroadenomas on growth of static or regression transformation,and calcify of interstitial tissue.Conclusions Ultrasonic diagnosis and its simple typing is an accurate,simple and effective way for the diagnosis of breast fibroadenoma,which may improve the accuracy of diagnosis rate for breast fibroadenoma.It is helpful for choosing the surgical remedies. Key words: Ultrasonography, mammary; Breast diseases ; Fibroadenoma

Relating tissue selenium to anthropometric and receptor status in Nigerian patients with breast cancer.

e12022 Background: The aim of this study was to identify the relationship of tissue selenium to anthropometric data and receptors status among Nigerian women with breast cancer. Methods: Consecutive consenting patients who had histologically confirmed breast cancer and fibroadenoma at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex, Ile-Ife, were recruited for the study. One gram of disease breast tissue was taken for selenium analysis from the subjects. The specimens were analyzed using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometer. Subjects’ demographics, anthropometric and breast cancer receptor status were recorded on a standard proforma. Results: There were 127 female subjects in the 2 groups. There were 95 (74.8%) cases of fibroadenoma and 32 (25.2%) of breast cancer. While the median tissue level of selenium in patients with fibroadenoma was 0.0272mg/g with a range of 0.0124 to 0.0576mg/g. The median tissue level of selenium in patients with breast cancer was 0.0178mg/g with a range 0.0072 to 0.0436mg/g. This was statistically significant (r=-0.613; p=0.0001). The anthropometric data of the patients such as weight, height, body mass index (BMI), body surface area, mid upper arm circumference and waist over hip ratio were correlated with tissue level of selenium and only waist over hip ratio and mid upper arm circumference were statistically significant (p&lt;0.0001, 0.049 respectively). When association of the breast cancer receptor status was tested against the tissue level of selenium, while the ER and PR receptors were significantly related to tissue level of selenium (F= 41.765, p= &lt;0.0001; F= 3.904, p=0.021), the HER receptor status was not (F= 1.100, p= 0.467).There was negative correlation between the tissue selenium and waist over hip ratio as well as tissue estrogen receptors status. Conclusions: Tissue selenium in patients with breast cancer was significantly low than that of fibroadenoma group. Similarly, tissue selenium is inversely related to waist over hip ratio and estrogen receptor status in subjects with breast cancer. It therefore implies that low tissue selenium may be an underlying factor in the occurrence of breast cancer in Nigeria.

Expressional Difference of RHEB, HDAC1, and WEE1 Proteins in the Stromal Tumors of the Breast and Their Significance in Tumorigenesis

BackgroundFibroadenoma (FA) and phyllodes tumor (PT) are stromal tumors of breast and are histologically similar. There are no established differences in tumorigenesis and oncogene expression among them. Ras homolog enriched in brain (RHEB) plays an important role in cell growth and cell-cycle control, histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) is an important factor in breast tumor progression and prognosis, and WEE1 homolog (WEE1) functions as a tumor suppressor. No studies on the expressional differences of these proteins in FA and PT have been reported to date.MethodsThe expression of these proteins in FA, PT, and normal breast was compared. We used 102 cases of FA and 25 cases of benign PT.ResultsIn epithelial cells, the expression of RHEB, HDAC1, and WEE1 was lowest in PT, higher in FA, and most enhanced in normal breast. In addition, the expression of RHEB and HDAC1 was higher in the stromal cells of PT than in FA and normal breast.ConclusionsBoth epithelial and stromal cells of FA and PT express these proteins, which indicates that epithelial cells play an important role in the development of stromal tumors. In addition, the expressional differences of these proteins may be associated with the tumorigenesis of breast stromal tumors.

Expression and Analysis of P33/ING1 and HIF-1α in Invasive Ductal Carcinoma of Breast

Objective To study the expression and significance of P33/ING1 and HIF-1α in invasive ductal carcinoma of breast(IDC).Methods Immunohistochemical SP method was performed to detect the expression of P33/ING1 and HIF-1α in 68 cases of IDC and 20 cases of breast fibroadenoma and the relationship between the expression and clinical-pathological characteristics was analyzed.Results The positive expression rates of P33/ING1 protein in IDC was significant lower than that in breast fibroadenoma(60.29% vs.95%;P0.01);and negatively correlated with tumor size,axillary lymph node metastasis and histologic grade(P0.05).The positive expression rates of HIF-1α protein in IDC was significant higher than that in breast fibroadenoma(52.94% vs.10%;P0.01) and positively correlated with axillary lymph node metastasis and histologic grade(P0.05).There was a negatively correlation between P33/ING1 and HIF-1α in IDC(r=-0.283;P0.05).Conclusion There were low-expression of P33/ING1 and over-expression of HIF-1α in IDC.P33/ING1 and HIF-1α proteins were significantly correlated with the clinicopathological characteristics in IDC.Combined detection of P33/ING1 and HIF-1α might calculate the biological behaviors of IDC.

Clinicopathological significance and prognostic value of Xeroderma pigmentosum complementary group C (XPC) expression in sporadic breast cancer patients

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women worldwide, and the incidence of breast cancer is increasing in the developing world. Estrogen exposure is a major risk factor for breast cancer, and estrogen oxidative metabolites have been implicated in chemical carcinogenesis. Xeroderma pigmentosum complementary group C (XPC) plays an important and multifaceted role in cell protection from oxidative DNA damage. Thus, XPC inactivation may be involved in the early stage of breast cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of XPC protein in sporadic breast cancer tissues and determine whether XPC expression influences breast cancer malignancy and clinical outcome. Fifteen cases of adjacent non-tumor breast tissue, 28 cases of fibroadenomas and 235 cases of breast carcinomas were examined by immunohistochemistry using polyclonal antibody to XPC. Both cytoplasmic and nuclear expression level of XPC were downregulated in breast carcinoma when compared to non-tumor tissues (P < 0.05). The nuclear expression level of XPC was significantly associated with expression of BCL2 (r = 0.231, P = 0.033) and p53 (r = 0.205, P = 0.011), and nuclear expression of XPC was significantly associated with patients' age (P = 0.024). Neither cytoplasmic nor nuclear expression level of XPC had impact on patients' survival in the whole samples. However, XPC expression was correlated with adverse survival in HER2-positive, but not HER2-negative, tumors, as demonstrated by Kaplan-Meier analysis. Our results suggested that the XPC protein is involved in the occurrence and progression of breast cancer.

The role of micronucleus scoring in fine needle aspirates of ductal carcinoma of the breast

Micronucleus (MN) scoring was carried out in benign (fibroadenoma) and malignant (infiltrating ductal carcinoma) breast lesions to evaluate the role of MN as a biomarker in breast carcinomas. We also compared MN scores among different cytological grades of breast carcinoma. A total of 31 archival cases of fibroadenoma (FA) and 40 cases of infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) were selected. The best May-Grünwald-Giemsa (MGG) stained fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) smear of each case was selected. The MN scoring was carried out independently by two observers on 1000 epithelial cells in oil immersion magnification (100× objective). The MN scores in FA and IDC were compared. The IDC cases were graded and the MN scores in different cytological grades of IDC were compared. The mean MN scores (± standard deviation) in FA and IDC were 0.6 (± 1.1) and 13.6 (± 12.8), respectively, which were significantly different (P < 0.0001). There were seven grade 1, 13 grade 2, and 20 grade 3 IDCs. The mean MN scores (± standard deviation) of grade 1, 2 and 3 IDC were 4.3 (± 2.3), 11.95 (± 9.2) and 21.1 (± 16.7), respectively. An analysis of variance (anova) test showed a significant difference in MN score between all the grades of IDC (P < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference between fibroadenoma and grade 1 IDC. The Pearson's correlation coefficient showed positive correlations between MN scoring in the different grades of IDC. MN scoring on routinely stained smears of IDCs was significantly higher than in fibroadenoma and was relatively easy, reliable and reproducible. As MN scoring of grade 1 IDC was similar to fibroadenoma, a larger study should be conducted to compare grade 1 IDC with other benign breast lesions.