Cornelia Focke

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Klinikum, Neubrandenburg | DBK · Department of Pathology

Purpose To analyze concordance rates between individual foci of bifocal BC for histological grade, type and intrinsic subtype based on immunohistochemical (IHC) and mRNA-testing using MammaTyper. Methods We evaluated histological grade and type as well as intrinsic subtype based on IHC status for estrogen and progesterone receptors, HER2 and the m...

Purpose To analyze concordance rates between individual foci of bifocal BC for histological grade, type and intrinsic subtype based on immunohistochemical (IHC) and mRNA-testing using MammaTyper. Methods We evaluated histological grade and type as well as intrinsic subtype based on IHC status for estrogen and progesterone receptors, HER2 and the m...

Ki67 has potential clinical importance in breast cancer but has yet to see broad acceptance due to inter-laboratory variability. Here we tested an open source and calibrated automated digital image analysis (DIA) platform to: (i) investigate the comparability of Ki67 measurement across corresponding core biopsy and resection specimen cases, and (ii...

Background: The nuclear proliferation biomarker Ki67 has multiple potential roles in breast cancer, including aiding decisions based on prognosis, but has unacceptable between-laboratory variability. Here we tested an open source and calibrated automated digital image analysis (DIA) platform to: (i) Assess inter-laboratory reproducibility of automa...

Background: Proliferation assessment using Ki67 is a crucial component in intrinsic subtyping of luminal breast cancers (BC) but suffers from variability between labs, observers and methods. MammaTyper® is a quantitative molecular tool that measures mRNA levels of the ERBB2, ESR1, PGR and MKI67 genes in BC, and interprets the results according to...

Aims The nuclear proliferation marker Ki67 assayed by immunohistochemistry has multiple potential uses in breast cancer, but an unacceptable level of inter‐laboratory variability has hampered its clinical utility. The International Ki67 in Breast Cancer Working Group has undertaken a systematic program to determine whether Ki67 measurement can be a...

Aims: (i) Determine whether between-observer reproducibility for Ki67 when assessed on whole sections according to a standardized scoring protocol is adequate for clinical application. (ii) Compare between-observer reproducibility of Ki67 scores assessed on hot-spots to scores using a global method that averages across a tissue section. Background:...

Background: Postanalytic issues of Ki67 assessment in breast cancers like counting method standardisation and interrater bias have been subject of various studies, but little is known about analytic variability of Ki67 staining between pathology labs. Our aim was to study interlaboratory variability of Ki67 staining in breast cancer using tissue m...

Background Regional differences in proliferative activity are commonly seen within breast cancers, but little is known on the degree of intratumoral heterogeneity of Ki67 expression. Our aim was to study intratumoral heterogeneity of Ki67 expression in early breast cancers and its association with clinicopathological features like estrogen receptor...

Background: Assessing prognostic and predictive factors like the Ki67 labelling index (Ki67-LI) in breast cancer core needle biopsies (CNB) may be hampered by undersampling. Our aim was to arrive at a representative assessment of Ki67-LI in CNB of luminal breast cancers by defining optimal cutoffs and establishing the minimum CNB volume needed for...

Background: Phosphohistone H3 (PHH3) has been suggested to facilitate and improve mitotic activity assessment in breast cancer and other tumor entities, but the reliability of respective immunohistochemical antibodies has not yet been compared for routine purposes. Our aim was to test the performance of 4 different PHH3 antibodies on a series of h...

Ki67 has been proposed as prognostic proliferation marker in luminal breast cancer (BC), but little is known on the influence of Ki67 assessment methods on subtyping into luminal A- and B-like tumors. Our aim was to study the influence of different Ki67-labeling index (Ki67-LI) assessment methods on the proportion of BCs classified as luminal A-lik...

Background: In breast cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy, histologic grading needs to be done on core needle biopsies (CNB) that may not be representative of the whole tumour when they are small. Our aim was to study the influence of biopsy sizes on agreement rates of histological grade between CNB and subsequent surgical excision...

Background: Regional differences in proliferative activity are commonly seen within breast cancers, but little is known on the extent of intratumoral heterogeneity of Ki67 expression. Our aim was to study intratumoral heterogeneity of Ki67 expression in early breast cancers and its association with clinicopathological features like oestrogen recep...

Pathological analysis of the nuclear proliferation biomarker Ki67 has multiple potential roles in breast and other cancers. However, clinical utility of the immunohistochemical (IHC) assay for Ki67 immunohistochemistry has been hampered by unacceptable between-laboratory analytical variability. The International Ki67 Working Group has conducted a s...

Aims: (i) To determine if between-pathologist agreement for Ki67 is adequate for clinical application, following a standardised scoring protocol. (ii) To compare between-pathologist agreement of scoring hot-spots vs a global method averaging Ki67 across each section. Background: The nuclear proliferation biomarker Ki67 has multiple potential roles...

Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; December 9-13, 2014; San Antonio, TX Objective: To highlight the agreement between Ki67-Labelling indices (LIs) of core biopsies (CB) and related surgical specimens (SSP) in luminal breast cancers (BCs) adopting the recommendations of the St Gallen Consensus Conference 2013 and t...

To identify markers of non-response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) that could be used in the adjuvant setting. Sixteen pathologists of the European Working Group for Breast Screening Pathology reviewed the core biopsies of breast cancers treated with NAC and recorded the clinico-pathological findings (histological type and grade; estrogen, proge...

The Ki67 labelling index (LI – proportion of staining cells) is widely used to reflect proliferation in breast carcinomas. Several cut-off values have been suggested to distinguish between tumours with low and high proliferative activity. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the distribution of Ki67 LIs in breast carcinomas diagnosed at dif...

Zielsetzung: Die Tumorproliferationsmessung durch Ki67-Labelling Index (Ki67-LI) wird beim Mammakarzinom zur Prognoseeinschatzung, spatestens seit 2011 auch zur Chemotherapieindikation bei luminalen Mammakarzinomen empfohlen. Trotz Zweifeln an der Reproduzierbarkeit, enthalten internationale und nationale Empfehlungen bereits Cut-Offs zur Definitio...

Objective: Assessment of tumor proliferation using the Ki67 labeling index (Ki67-LI) is increasingly recommended for prognostication and adjuvant chemotherapy decisions in breast cancer. Our aim was to investigate interlaboratory variance of Ki67-LI results using TMA and centralised assessment to exclude preanalytic influences and postanalytic vari...

Rationale: The St Gallen Consensus 2011 strongly recommends subtyping of breast cancer (BC). However, because there is no data from phase III trials to substanciate adjuvant therapy benefit gene expression arrays were not generally accepted to guide systemic therapy decisions. Instead, the consensus introduced clinicopathological BC subtypes (cpBCS...

Background: In numerous studies histological grade (HG) remained an independent prognostic factor for ER positive tumours even after the inclusion of gene signatures in the multivariate models. Moreover, grade 3 is judged as clear argument in favour of chemotherapy. Therefore, there are many reasons to provide patients and doctors with HG as import...

Rationale: Whereas the St Gallen International Expert Consensus on the Primary Therapy of Early Breast Cancer 2011 considered molecular typing as the adequate model representing the heterogeneity of breast cancers, it did not generally accept gene expression array criteria for clinical decision making. When the classification of tumours by gene exp...

Ziel: Es gibt viele Grunde, bereits praoperativ Patienten und Arzten auch Informationen uber den intrinsischen Subtyp (IST) eines neu diagnostiziertes Mammakarzinom zu geben. Wir beurteilten die Relevanz der an minimal invasiven Biopsien (MIB) bestimmten IST. Methoden: An MIB und zugehorigen OP von 285 konsekutiven Mammakarzinomen erfolgte die Best...