Nuclear morphometry and glutathione S-transferase pi expression in breast cancer.

  • Authors:
    • J Huang
    • B H Bay
    • P H Tan
  • View Affiliations

  • Published online on: May 1, 2000     https://doi.org/10.3892/or.7.3.609
  • Pages: 609-622
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Abstract

Glutathione S-transferase pi (GST-pi) is a phase II detoxification enzyme whose expression is increased in estrogen receptor (ER)-poor breast cancers and in breast cancers resistant to certain chemotherapeutic agents. The aim of this study was to investigate the immunohistochemical expression of GST-pi in invasive breast carcinoma and to correlate the findings with those of nuclear morphometry. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue specimens obtained from 21 invasive breast cancers and 16 adjacent (benign) tissues were immunohistochemically stained using polyclonal anti-human GST-pi antibody. There was positive (defined as >10% immunoreactive tumor cells) but variable expression of GST-pi in 10 (48%) cases. Nuclear morphometry in these 10 tumors revealed immunoreactive malignant cells to be larger (mean area 41.7+/-1.0 microm2) and more rounded in form when compared with non-staining cancer cells (mean area 28.7+/-0.7 microm2). It was also observed that GST-pi immunonegative tumor cells in GST-pi expressing tumors had different morphologies from malignant cells in the remaining 11 (52%) cancers that were regarded as GST-pi negative. Increased GST-pi expression determined by the percentage of positively staining tumor cells, was found to be significantly correlated with increased variability in nuclear area and perimeter (Spearman's rho=0.821, p=0.044 for both) in the subset of node-positive tumors. Our findings suggest that there exists two sub-populations of cancer cells with distinct nuclear morphologies in GST-pi positive tumors; factors other than GST-pi expression are likely to have a phenotypic effect on breast cancer cells; and there may be a special significance of this enzyme in axillary node-positive breast tumors.

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May-Jun 2000
Volume 7 Issue 3

Print ISSN: 1021-335X
Online ISSN:1791-2431

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Spandidos Publications style
Huang J, Bay B and Tan P: Nuclear morphometry and glutathione S-transferase pi expression in breast cancer.. Oncol Rep 7: 609-622, 2000
APA
Huang, J., Bay, B., & Tan, P. (2000). Nuclear morphometry and glutathione S-transferase pi expression in breast cancer.. Oncology Reports, 7, 609-622. https://doi.org/10.3892/or.7.3.609
MLA
Huang, J., Bay, B., Tan, P."Nuclear morphometry and glutathione S-transferase pi expression in breast cancer.". Oncology Reports 7.3 (2000): 609-622.
Chicago
Huang, J., Bay, B., Tan, P."Nuclear morphometry and glutathione S-transferase pi expression in breast cancer.". Oncology Reports 7, no. 3 (2000): 609-622. https://doi.org/10.3892/or.7.3.609