Physical basis of the 'magnification rule' for standardized Immunohistochemical scoring of HER2 in breast and gastric cancer.
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ABSTRACT: Detection of HER2/neu receptor overexpression and/or amplification is a prerequisite for efficient anti-HER2 treatment of breast and gastric carcinomas. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) of the HER2 protein is the most common screening test, thus precise and reproducible IHC-scoring is of utmost importance. Interobserver variance still is a problem; in particular in gastric carcinomas the reliable differentiation of IHC scores 2+ and 1+ is challenging. Herein we describe the physical basis of what we called the 'magnification rule': Different microscope objectives are employed to reproducibly subdivide the continuous spectrum of IHC staining intensities into distinct categories (1+, 2+, 3+).HER2-IHC was performed on 120 breast cancer biopsy specimens (n =?40 per category). Width and color-intensity of membranous DAB chromogen precipitates were measured by whole-slide scanning and digital morphometry. Image-analysis data were related to semi-quantitative manual scoring according to the magnification rule and to the optical properties of the employed microscope objectives.The semi-quantitative manual HER2-IHC scores are correlated to color-intensity measured by image-analysis and to the width of DAB-precipitates. The mean widths ±standard deviations of precipitates were: IHC-score 1+, 0.64?±?0.1 ?m; score 2+, 1.0?±?0.23 ?m; score 3+, 2.14?±?0.4 ?m. The width of precipitates per category matched the optical resolution of the employed microscope objective lenses: Approximately 0.4 ?m (40×), 1.0 ?m (10×) and 2.0 ?m (5×).Perceived intensity, width of the DAB chromogen precipitate, and absolute color-intensity determined by image-analysis are linked. These interrelations form the physical basis of the 'magnification rule': 2+ precipitates are too narrow to be observed with 5× microscope objectives, 1+ precipitates are too narrow for 10× objectives. Thus, the rule uses the optical resolution windows of standard diagnostic microscope objectives to derive the width of the DAB-precipitates. The width is in turn correlated with color-intensity. Hereby, the more or less subjective estimation of IHC scores based only on the staining-intensity is replaced by a quasi-morphometric measurement. The principle seems universally applicable to immunohistochemical stainings of membrane-bound biomarkers that require an intensity-dependent scoring.
SUBMITTER: Scheel AH
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5848460 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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