Expression of γH2AX may help in defining a genetically more stable subtype of infiltrating ductal carcinoma of breast

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Gamma H2AX, a marker of DNA double stranded breaks (DSB) has been found to be over expressed in various tumours. The objective of the present work was to study the expression of γH2AX in infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) and fibroadenoma (FA) cases and to associate the expression in IDC with cytomorphological features and DNA ploidy. METHODS: The expression of γH2AX was studied in fine needle aspirates of 16 cases of IDC and 15 FA cases. The expression in IDC was correlated with the cytological grade, apoptotic (AI) and mitotic indices (MI) and ploidy status. RESULTS: A high γH2AX expression was noted in IDC as compared to FA. Amongst the IDC cases the γH2AX was found to be significantly over expressed in DNA diploid IDC cases as compared to the aneuploid ones. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests a role of γH2AX in breast carcinogenesis which needs to be explored further. Moreover, the γH2AX expression together with ploidy status may serve as a means of assigning the patients of IDC to a better prognostic category irrespective of the cytomorphogical parameters.