The Presence of Nonnuclear Estrogen Receptor-alpha in Breast Cancer and Its Prognostic/Predictive Value
Abstract
My research has shown that while we can detect non-nuclear ER reproducibly in a small number of breast cancer specimens, its low incidence implies a minimal prognostic or predictive value, and often poor antibody validation is a confounding factor. While negative, we feel these results are important to share with the scientific and clinical world. These roadblocks have also provided an impetus to develop a quantified and standardized assay to measure nuclear ER itself, and to use this assay in assessing the level and significance of ER misclassification in breast cancer patients today. This has allowed us to provide insight into the current causes of false-negative ER classification, with two especially important and clinically-relevant conclusions that have been a main focus of this year's work: 1) current problems with misclassification appear due to variability in threshold intensity of DAB stain, rather than variability in %-positive cells, and thus new ASCO/CAP guidelines in the future should address this problem. And 2) that SP1 appears to be a potentially more sensitive antibody than 1D5 (showing higher signal-to-noise) and when used clinically, appears to reduce the false-negative rate.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA541320
Entities
People
- Allison Welsh
Organizations
- Yale University