The Effect of Freezing on the Immunoprofile of Breast Carcinoma Cells

Abstract

Background: Intraoperative frozen section procedure may be requiredin some operations performed for breast masses.Aims: We investigated the effect of frozen section procedure on theimmunoprofile of breast carcinoma cells.Study Design: Cross-sectional study.Methods: A total of 53 breast carcinoma cases evaluated with intraoperativefrozen sections were included in this study. Immunohistochemically,oestrogen (ER), progesterone (PR) and HER2 primaryantibodies were evaluated in both frozen and non-frozen sections ofeach tumour sample.Results: No difference was found between the frozen and non-frozensections in 33 cases in terms of staining rate and intensity of ER, PRand HER2. A decrease was found in the ER, PR and HER2 stainingrate (in 10 cases, 9 cases and 6 cases, respectively). Likewise, adecrease was detected in ER, PR and HER2 staining intensity in 6patients for each. Although there was no staining in frozen sections,immunopositivity was observed in 3 non-frozen sections for ER, in 2for PR and in 5 for HER2. Statistically, a significant difference wasfound between the frozen and non-frozen sections in terms of stainingrate and intensity for each of the three markers.Conclusion: In this study, the frozen section procedure in breast carcinomahad a negative effect on the immunoprofile. However, consideringthe importance of hormone receptor status in the treatment,these results should be supported with larger series.