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6th ESACP Congress, Heidelberg, April 7-11, 1999 |
A032
OBJECTIVE: To perform an image analysis assessment of nuclear
morphometric and structural characteristics of breast cancer cell populations
in ER and PR +/- tumors. STUDY DESIGN: Cytological imprint slides of
tumor specimen from 37 stage II and III breast cancer patients, were
stained routinely as well as for DNA. ERC and PRC were determined by the
dextran-coated charcoal assay and considered as positive when greater than
5 &10 fmol/mg protein respectively. An average of 100 cancer cells were
analysed, using specially elaborated software, both in routinely and
DNA stained slides, for nuclear perimeter, diameter and area, nucleolar
area (in routinely stained slides) and average intensity of nuclear staining.
The chromatin structure was assessed using mean diameter of chromatin grains
and relative chromatin area within the nucleus. RESULTS: In DNA
stained slides in ER+ tumors mean nuclear perimeter, diameter and area is
smaller in comparison with ER- tumors (ER+ 246+/- 68, 73+/- 15 and
3781+/- 1693 pixels resp.; ER- 328+/- 128, 90+/- 28 and 6078+/- 4411 pixels,
p<0.001); staining intensity is less in ER- tumor cell nuclei (ER+ 126+/-44;
ER- 104+/-39 Arbitrary units). Chromatin structure in ER+ tumor cells is
characterized by fine granularity in comparison with ER-, where the diameter
of chromatin grains is bigger. The differences between PR+/PR- tumors are
similar to those of ER+/ER-. CONCLUSIONS : Quantitative assessment of nucleus
structure by image analysis of breast cancer cells shows close correlation
with ER/PR receptor status and could be used for characterization of
biological behavior of cancer cell populations.
BREAST CANCER CELL NUCLEUS IMAGE ANALYSIS : STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF
CELL POPULATIONS IN ER&PR POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE TUMORS
Berzins J, Sneiders U, Freivalds T, Plegere D, Springis I, Grigalinovica R,
Zeikate G, Grabovska I
Latvian Cancer Center, Institute of Experimental and Clinical Medicine
of the University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia