breast tissues.
Paraffin-embedded tissues stained with MSF-specific antibody included:
NB (n=19): Histologically normal breast tissues from reduction mammoplasties;
NB-T (n=18): Histologically normal breast from patients with breast carcinoma;
B (n=8): Benign breast tumours/pathologies;
T (n=23): Breast carcinomas, from routine pathology blocks; and
TMA (n=28): Breast carcinomas cores in tissue microarrays.
For statistical analyses, both the number of specimens (n) and the percentage
of specimens (as in graph) showing the various MSF grades were analysed
by Chi square and Fisher’s exact tests
A. Overall MSF grade, classified as negative (0), weak positive (1), moderate (2),
or strong positive (3). No significant differences were found between NB-T and
B. Significant differences were found between all other tissues (p=0.02-0.0001).
B. Stromal grade, classified as either negative or positive for fibroblasts and
the microvasculature. Differences between NB and NB-T were significant
when comparing the percentages of specimens examined (p=0.008 for both
fibroblast and vascular grades), but not for the actual number of specimens.
Differences between NB and T were significant for both stromal grades
(p=0.002-0.0001), whereas differences between NB-T and T were significant
only for the vascular grade (p=0.01-0.0001).