ArticlePloS one2021
Looking for more reliable biomarkers in breast cancer: Comparison between routine methods and RT-qPCR.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Promising reference genes for RT-qPCR normalization in breast tumors and normal adjacent tissues.Molecular biology reports · 2026Article
- Research Trends and Development Dynamics of qPCR-based Biomarkers: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Analysis.Molecular biotechnology · 2026Review
- Deep learning algorithm on H&E whole slide images to characterizeComputational and structural biotechnology journal · 2024Article
- Prospective Validation of a One-Step RT-qPCR-based Test for Quantifying HER2 Gene Expression in Breast Cancer.Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP · 2024Article
- Comprehensive and Accurate Molecular Profiling of Breast Cancer through mRNA Expression ofDiagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- The Enigma of Mammaglobin: Redefining the Biomarker Paradigm in Breast Carcinoma.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Article
- Targeted Approaches to HER2-Low Breast Cancer: Current Practice and Future Directions.Cancers · 2022Review
- Progress on deep learning in digital pathology of breast cancer: a narrative review.Gland surgery · 2022Review
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeDecades of quality control efforts have raised the standards of immunohistochemistry (IHC), the principle method used for biomarker testing in breast cancer; however, computational pathology and reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) may also hold promise for additional substantial improvements.
methodsHerein, we investigated discrepancies in the assessment of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and marker of proliferation Ki67 comparing routinely obtained IHC (and FISH) data (ORI) with the results of manual (REV) and semi-automated (DIA) re-evaluation of the original IHC slides and then with RNA expression data from the same tissue block using the MammaTyper® (MT) gene expression assay.
resultsCorrelation for ER and PR was high between ORI IHC and the other three study methods (REV, DIA and RT-qPCR). For HER2, 10 out of 96 discrepant cases can be detected between ORI and REV that involved at least one call in the equivocal category (except for one case). For Ki67, 22 (29.1%) cases were categorized differently by either REV alone (n = 17), DIA alone (n = 15) or both (n = 10) and 28 cases (29.2%) for RT-qPCR. Most of the discrepant Ki67 cases changed from low to high between the original and following assessment and belonged to the intermediate Ki67 expression range (between 9 and 30%).
conclusionsDetermination of the breast cancer biomarkers ER, PR, HER2 and Ki67 at the mRNA level shows high degree of correlation with IHC and compares well with correlations between original with subsequent independent manual or semi-automated IHC assessments. The use of methods with wider dynamic range and higher reproducibility such as RT-qPCR may offer more precise assessment of endocrine responsiveness, improve Ki67 standardization and help resolve HER2 cases that remain equivocal or ambiguous by IHC/FISH. In summary, our findings seem to configure RT-qPCR as a complementary method to be used in cases of either equivocal results or presenting, at the traditional determination assays, biomarkers expressions close to the cut-off values.
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