Detection of oestrogen receptors in non-invasive and invasive transitional cell carcinomas of the urinary bladder using both conventional immunohistochemistry and the tyramide staining amplification (TSA) technique.

Abstract

In a retrospective immunohistochemical study, the expression of oestrogen receptors has been investigated in paraffin-embedded transitional cell carcinomas of the urinary bladder with antibody 6F11, using both a conventional immunohistochemical detection system and the highly sensitive tyramide staining amplification (TSA) technique. The study comprised 88 invasive and 97 non-invasive carcinomas of 101 female (mean age 68.4 years) and 84 male (mean age 68.2 years) patients. Oestrogen receptors were detected in 34 (18 per cent) carcinomas with conventional immunohistochemistry and 46 (25 per cent) with TSA. Using TSA, oestrogen receptors were significantly more often detectable in invasive (32/88) than in non-invasive carcinomas (14/97) and in G2/G3 (37/122) rather than in G1 (9/63) carcinomas. There were no associations between patients' age and sex and the expression of oestrogen receptors. The functional significance of oestrogen receptor expression in a subset of transitional cell carcinomas of the urinary bladder remains to be determined.