Expression of Estrogen and Progesterone Receptors among Sudanese Women with Breast Cancer: Immunohistochemical Study

Study design: This is a descriptive study to detect the level of Estrogen (ER) and Progesterone (PR) receptors in a sample of biopsies from Sudanese women with breast cancer presented at Khartoum teaching Hospital Material and Methods: Forty biopsies from breast cancer patients were examined with immunostaining using anti-sera to ER and PR as markers to detect receptors. Results: All the specimens showed the typical histopathologic features of breast cancer. Immunoreactivity testing revealed positive ER in thirty-six patients (90%) and positive PR in thirty-one patients (77.5%). Of the 36 ER positive samples, staining intensity was: strong in 20 (55.5 %) moderate in 10 (27.7 %) and weak in 6 (16.7 %). Of the 31 PR positive samples, 15 (48.4 %) showed strong staining, 7 (22.5 %) moderate and 9 (29.0 %) weak staining Conclusion: the studied specimens showed high level of positive ER and PR receptors Sudan Joural of Medical Studies Vol. 2 (1) 2007: pp. 5-