Nuclear DNA content in breast carcinomas with neuroendocrine differentiation

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Abstract
Sixty‐one breast carcinomas (54 infiltrating ductal carcinomas and seven infiltrating lobular carcinomas) were immunostained with anti‐NSE and analysed with respect to nuclear DNA content. Nine of the 23 NSE‐positive breast carcinomas were diploid, five were triploid, six tetraploid and three pentaploid. Twenty‐one of the 38 NSE‐negative tumours were diploid, 10 were triploid, seven tetraploid, and none were pentaploid. Three of the eight histologically grade 1 tumours in the NSE‐positive group were aneuploid, whereas all the six grade I tumours in the NSE‐negative group were diploid. The results show that a proportion of breast carcinomas with neuroendocrine differentiation are aneuploid and that aneuploid tumours that are grade I histologically are found in the NSE‐positive group and not in the NSE‐negative group.