J.Jpn. Surg. Soc.. 89(5): 737-746, 1988

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Original article

EXPERIMENTAL AND CLINICAL STUDY ON FLOW CYTOMETRIC DNA ANALYSIS OF HUMAN BREAST CARCINOMA

Flow cytometric DNA analysis was performed on four human breast carcinoma xenografts serially transplanted into nude mice (MX-1, T-61, R-27 and MCF-7) together with 31 surgical specimens of breast carcinoma. Mechanically dissociated tumor cells were stained with propidium iodide and histograms were obtained by counting at least 2 x 10⁴ cells using EPICS-V flow cytometer. Tumor ploidy was expressed as DNA Index using internal standard of chicken red blood cells and the percentage of cells in the S phase of cell cycle was determined by Bagwell's program.
All of four xenografts and 23 of 31 clinical specimens showed non-diploid pattern. Statistically significant correlation was observed between %S and tumor doubling time of human tumor xenografts, where rapid growing tumor revealed high %S. In clinical cases, statistically significant correlation was present between %S and histological grade and the state of hormone receptors. Histological grade III tumors had a significantly higher %S than that of histological grade I tumors. ER negative tumors showed a significantly higher mean %S than that of ER positive tumors. Similarly, PgR negative tumors possesed a significantly higher mean %S than that of PgR positive tumors. However, no significant correlation was found between ploidy pattern and clinicopathological parameters.
It was concluded that flow cytometric %S might be useful to estimate the biological malignancy of human breast carcinomas.

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