BIOCHEMICAL CORRELATES OF MORPHOLOGIC DIFFERENTIATION IN HUMAN-BREAST CANCER

  • 1 January 1982
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 92  (3) , 443-449
Abstract
In 115 breast carcinoma tissues, histologic grade and cell cytosol concentrations of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) and 2 breast cyst fluid proteins (gross cystic disease fluid protein [GCDFP-15] and nonreceptor progesterone-binding protein [PBP]) were determined. Higher levels (expresed as fmol/mg of protein) of ER (128 .+-. 28 vs. 11 .+-. 1, P < 0.001) and PR (82 .+-. 16 vs. 3 .+-. 1, P < 0.001) were found in grade 1 (well-differentiated) carcinomas as compared with grade 3 (poorly differentiated) carcinomas. Higher concentrations (expressed as ng/mg of cytosol protein) of GCDFP-15 (2110 .+-. 840 vs. 210 .+-. 40, P < 0.001) and PBP (4920 .+-. 1200 vs. 370 .+-. 60, P < 0.001) were found in grade 1 as compared with grade 3 carcinomas. Tumor cytosols that contained low levels of both cyst proteins (< 225 ng/mg GCDFP-15 and < 750 ng/mg PBP) had a high incidence of grade 3 (35 of 46, 78%) or grade 2 (15, of 46, 33%) histologic findings and had a high incidence of receptor-negative specimens (27 of 52, 52%). Based on these cutoff levels, grade 2 lesions were subdivided into a high cyst protein group which had ER and PR levels similar to grade 1 tumors (93.1 .+-. 26.7 for ER and 84.7 .+-. 32.4 for PR, P > 0.3), and a low group, which had receptor values similar to grade 3 carcinomas (14.1 .+-. 5.3 for ER and 9.1 .+-. 5.2 for PR, P > 0.3). Although the mean cytosol content of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was significantly higher in malignant tissues (125 .+-. 27 ng/mg cytosol protein) than in benign tissues (4.8 .+-. 1 ng/mg cytosol protein), the CEA content was not significantly different between grades 1 and 3 tumors.