CORRELATION BETWEEN P53 STATUS, DNA-PLOIDY, PROLIFERATION RATE AND NUCLEAR MORPHOLOGY IN BREAST-CANCER - AN IMAGE CYTOMETRIC STUDY

The study was designed to detect differences in the nuclear morphology of tumours and tumour cell populations with different p53 expression in correlation with DNA ploidy and proliferation rate. The paraffin se ctions from routinely processed samples of 88 breast cancers were immu nostained with the monoclonal p53-antibody DO-1. After localization an d evaluation with a scoring system the sections were destained and sta ined by the Feulgen method. The nuclei were relocated automatically an d measured by means of the image cytometry workstation. Significant di fferences between the tumours and tumour cell populations with differe nt p53 expression were found in the euploid rumours as well as in the aneuploid tumours and in the breast cancers with a high proliferation rate. The breast cancers with a low immunoreactive score (IRS 1-4) dif fer from the negative cancers as well as from the cancers with a highe r immunoreactive score (IRS 5-12). Evaluating the nuclear populations of the p53 positive cancers, there were differences in the features of the chromatin amount and distribution in the groups of the euploid br east cancers and in cancer with a high proliferation rate. In contrast , the nuclear populations of the aneuploid cancers did not show any di fferences in their nuclear morphology. The results showed the differen t impacts of the p53 expression, DNA ploidy and the proliferation rate on the nuclear morphology in breast cancer.