[A study on methodology and the criteria for positive immunohistostaining of estrogen and progesterone receptors in paraffin embedded sections of breast cancer].

The expression of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) in 200 breast cancer specimens were imvestigated by monoclonal antibody with S-P staining to evaluate and standardize the criteria for positive staining. The results revealed that the incidence of ER and PR were 73.5% and 65.5% respectively. The authors concluded that the immunostaining could demonstrate in situ ER and PR, the results were stable, highly sensitive, consistent and comparable with the well established and recognized techniques home and abroad. The authors further pointed out that the crucial point of the staining is antigen retrieval and reported the optimal temperature and the time of sodium citrate buffer treatment. In this report, the criteria for positive staining were discussed intensively. The observations indicated that the percentage of the positive cells is more reliable, representative and practical than that of positive staining intensity index.