A study of CD10 positivity of stromal cells in core needle biopsy specimen of breast cancer patients and its relation with histological grade and lymphovascular invasion

Background: In core needle biopsy (CNB) often the histological grade of invasive breast carcinoma is under-estimated due to heterogeneity of epithelial component. Stroma is relatively homogenous throughout the tumor and strong CD10 stromal positivity is proposed to be associated with high tumor grade. Aims and Objectives: The aim of this work was to study the expression of CD10 in stromal cells of invasive carcinoma of breast, no specific type (NST) in CNB specimens, and analyze its association with final histological grade and lymphovascular invasion (LVI). Materials and Methods: A total of 50 cases of invasive carcinoma of breast, NST were studied for 18 months. CNB specimens were graded according to modified Scarff-Bloom-Richardson (SBR) system and CD10 positivity was assessed in stromal cells. Mastectomy specimens were also similarly graded. Relation of stromal CD10 positivity with histological grading and LVI was studied. Statistics: Associations between the variables were studied by Chi-square test. A value of P < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: On CNB 46% patients had a grade 2 tumor, followed by 30% grade 3 and 24% grade 1 tumor. Strong CD10 positivity was seen in 40% cases, 32% showed weak positivity and 28% were negative for CD10 in stromal cells in CNB specimen. On evaluation of mastectomy specimen 48% of the patients had a grade 2 tumor, followed by 40% grade 3 tumor and 12% grade 1 tumor. Strong CD10 positivity was found to be significantly associated with final grade 3 tumor (P< 0.001) and LVI (P= 0.005). Conclusions: There was underestimation of histological grade on CNB, while strong stromal CD10 positivity in CNB was significantly associated with final grade 3 tumor and LVI.