IMMUNODETECTION OF HER-2 NEU PROTEIN IN FROZEN-SECTIONS EVALUATED BY IMAGE-ANALYSIS - CORRELATION WITH OVERALL AND DISEASE-FREE SURVIVAL INBREAST CARCINOMAS/

The immunodetection of HER-2/neu oncogene product was performed in 108 breast carcinomas using immunoperoxidase technique. Monoclonal anti H ER-2/neu protein was applied on frozen sections. Immunoprecipitates we re evaluated by a computerized system of image analysis (SAM-BA). The percentage of the immunostained tissue surfaces and mean optical densi ties were correlated with the 5 year overall and disease-free survival rates. It was shown that in optimal conditions of antigen preservatio n and standardized method of immunoprecipitates evaluation, 67% of bre ast carcinomas were more than 20% pHER-2/neu positive. The pHER-2/neu overexpession was not significantly correlated with the overall 5 year survival. However large positive anti pHER-2/neu surfaces were correl ated with higher risk of recurrence (p=0.0013) and of metastases (p=0. 035).