| Summary: | Background: Antigen retrieval (AR) techniques play a major role in determining the quality and functional state of tissue proteins recovered from formalin fixed paraffin embedded blocks (FFPEB). Different techniques are used each with its merits and drawbacks.
Materials and Method FFPEB from cases diagnosed as breast cancer were examined
for the expression of estrogen- receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and HER2
by immunohistochemical techniques using two different AR methods.
Results: Fifty cases, 49 were from females, the age ranged from 28–85 years were
examined. The expression of ER using water bath and PT link (pretreatment system)
as antigen retrieval methods was equal, both methods showed 20(40%) positive
cases and 30(60%) negative cases, whereas, the expression of PR was found positive
in 18 cases (36%) and negative in 32 (64%) when water bath was used, in comparison
to10 positive (20%) and 40 negative (80%) when PT link was used (P value 0.312).The
expression of HER2 was as follows; water bath HER2 weak positive 20 cases (40%),
moderate expression 10 cases (20%), overexpression 2 cases (4%). PT link weak
expression 13 cases (26%), moderate expression 15 cases (30%), overexpression
4cases (8%); yet, the total number of negative cases and positive cases was equal
for both methods (p-value 0.035).
Conclusion: Antigen retrieval methods were found to affect the expression of
common receptors in breast cancer. The magnitude of this effect was found to be
significant in PR and HER2 receptors, however, the different methods of antigen
retrieval did not affect the expression of ER. The appropriate and suitable retrieval
methods have to be chosen individually for each receptor.
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