According to WHO, mammary carcinoma can be subdivided into several histological categories. Including nearly 80%, the group of invasive ductal mammary carcinoma is the biggest one. However this "not otherwise specified" (NOS) group demonstrates varying growth patterns and, according to clinical experience, is very heterogenous with respect to recurrence, prognosis, etc. Therefore, further methods to find subdivisions in this group would be beneficial. In this thesis, investigations were made on cytokeratin 7 (CK-7) expression in 3 groups (incubated with the monoclonal antibodies RPN 1162, LP-1k, LP-5k), each group containing 91 samples . The amount of CK-7 expression, found with digital image analysis was correlated with clinical data such as disease free interval, survival, TNM-status, etc. The pilot character of this thesis was the examination of a cytoplasma marker with digital image analysis. The result was, that the group which expressed more CK-7, had a significant shorter disease free interval, but a better remaining life expectancy after the first recurrence. This correlates to Nathrath´s findings in a former visual investigation of the same samples. In conclusion, no strong evidence of a prognostic relevance of CK-7 was determined, or other means of categorizing NOS carcinoma based on CK-7 content.
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According to WHO, mammary carcinoma can be subdivided into several histological categories. Including nearly 80%, the group of invasive ductal mammary carcinoma is the biggest one. However this "not otherwise specified" (NOS) group demonstrates varying growth patterns and, according to clinical experience, is very heterogenous with respect to recurrence, prognosis, etc. Therefore, further methods to find subdivisions in this group would be beneficial. In this thesis, investigations were made on...
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