Quantitation of estrogen receptor content and Ki-67 staining in breast carcinoma by the microTICAS image analysis system.

The microTICAS image analysis system, originally designed for karyometry using Papanicolaou-stained or Feulgen-stained smears and tissue sections, has been adapted to assess tissue sections stained by immunohistochemical techniques. This system was used to quantitate growth fractions and the estrogen receptor (ER) content of breast carcinomas stained by immunoperoxidase techniques. The results were similar to those obtained with nonautomated methods of quantitating immunohistochemically stained tissue sections and, in the case of ER content, were similar to the results obtained with cytosol estrogen binding methods. The findings show that the microTICAS system provides an objective alternative to visual counting of labeled cells in tissue sections stained for growth fraction or for ER content by immunohistochemical methods.