Intensity of staining? What is that?

stephilosphy00 · December 2017

I just noticed that some pathology reports do include intensity of staining for hormone receptors, while mine only indicates the percentage of cells have ER/PR receptors. I am kind of confused now. Could anybody here talk me into "intensity of staining" for hormone receptors? Which one is more important? Thanks!

Georgia1 · December 2017

Hey there. Here is some info. for you:

http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/diagnosis/hor...

I only got one number, which I think was the staining.

stephilosphy00 · December 2017

Thank you for the link! But looks like it doesn't tell if intensity of staining is an important prognostic factor or not.

Georgia1 · December 2017

My understanding is that it doesn't predict recurrence, if that's what you are asking. But it does tell you how helpful a drug like tamoxifen or an AI will be. The higher the number, the more they are like normal breast cells, which means the more dependent they are on hormones to grow. So if you take a drug that starves them of estrogen, the cancer cells are less likely to reproduce.

Intensity of staining? What is that?

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