Korean J Pathol.  1998 Nov;32(11):993-999.

Flow Cytometric DNA Content Analysis in Breast Cancer Comparison study of fresh and paraffin-embedded tissues

• Yoo JY
• Cho HJ

Abstract

DNA content of 25 cases of breast carcinoma was analyzed by flow cytometry in both fresh and formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue. Aneuploidy in fresh tissue and paraffin-embedded tissues was 72% and 32%, respectively. There was a 52% agreement in analysis of DNA ploidy between fresh and paraffin-embedded tissues. Most of the discrepancies resulted from loss of aneuploid peaks on the histograms of paraffin-embedded tissue. Mean S-phase fraction was slightly higher in a paraffin-embedded tissue than that in the fresh tissue; 19.2 9.1% versus 16.1 8.8% and there was no significant correlation between the S-phase fractions. In statistical analysis, the histologic and nuclear grades were not correlated with ploidy or mean S-phase fraction. Therefore it is strongly recommended to use the fresh tissue in flow cytometric DNA content analysis of breast cancer.

Keyword

Flow cytometry; Ploidy; S-phase fraction; Breast carcinoma

MeSH Terms

Aneuploidy
Breast Neoplasms*
Breast*
DNA*
Flow Cytometry
Ploidies
DNA