Lack of correlation between morphometric analysis and presence of microsatellite alterations in proliferative ductal lesions of the breast

OBJECTIVE: To apply morphometric studies using an image analyzer to it prev iously reported group of proliferative duct lesions and to compare results to see if there was a correlation between nuclear size range and monoclonal ity. STUDY DESIGN: Fifteen proliferative lesions of the breast from 12 subjects who had no history of breast malignancy were retrieved from archival pathol ogy specimens. Evidence of monoclonality was studied using a panel of polym erase chain reaction primers to examine microsatellite alterations on micro dissected paraffin-embedded specimens. Variation in nuclear size was studie d using an image analyzer. RESULTS: Of six proliferative breast lesions with demonstrated genetic inst ability, three showed cytologic evidence of uniformity in nuclear size, a c ytologic feature of malignancy. One of the six, which showed microsatellite alterations at three loci, demonstrated a wide range of nuclear size varia tion. Of the eight proliferative lesions that showed Mo genetic instability , three showed very uniform nuclear size, and five showed significant varia tions in nuclear size. One lesion, which fell into the "uncertain but proba bly genetic instable" category, showed diverse nuclear size ranges. CONCLUSION: This stimy demonstrated that there is no correlation between mo noclonality and monomorphic cell cytology of histologic proliferative breas t lesions.