Immunohistochemical analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-DNA adducts in breast tumor tissue

Environmental carcinogens may play a role in the etiology of breast cancer, but the extent of their contribution is not yet defined. The aims of this study were to determine whether polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-DNA a dducts could be detected in stored paraffin blocks of boast tumor tissue (n = 147) with an immunoperoxidase technique and whether they correlated with smoking, history and/or mutant p53 protein expression. There was no signif icant difference in mean relative nuclear staining intensity in non-smokers (444 +/- 90, n = 75), ever smokers (435 +/- 91, n = 72), and current smoke rs (456 +/- 98, n = 35), In either current or ever smokers, PAH-DNA adducts were non-significantly elevated in those with greater compared with lower exposure in relation to age at started smoking, years of smoking, cigarette s per day, and pack years. DNA damage levels were not elevated in tissues w ith compared with those without mutant p53 protein expression. These data d emonstrate that immunohistochemical methods can he used to monitor DNA dama ge levels in archived boast tissues. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.