Application of Automated Immunochemistry for Assessing Estrogen and Progesterone Receptors in Patients with Breast Cancer

Abstract

A new application of automated immunocytochemistry in detection of estrogen and progesterone receptors in frozen section tissues of human breast tumors is reported. The Fisher Code-on Immunology System, an IBM system I1 driven triaxial robotic slide staining unit, was programmed to perform automated immunocytochemical assays for estrogen and progesterone receptors. The immunoperoxidase technique was also performed on frozen section tissues of the same breast tumors by standard manual procedure. Although the results, identified by brown nuclear staining of tumor cells, were almost identical in both procedures, use of the automated system resulted in substantial time and cost savings as compared with the manual technique. The Code-on Immunology System produced permanent slides of high quality that could be used in cell image analysis for precise quantitation of hormone receptors in patients with breast cancer.