Oscar Mario Hernández-Alvidrez; Adolfo Soto-Domínguez; Eduardo Alfredo González-Murillo; Edmundo Erbey Castelán-Maldonado; David García-Garza & Rubén García-Garza

Breast adenocarcinoma is the second most common neoplasm, just after lung cancer in women. According to histopathological features this tumor is classified into well, moderate and poorly differentiated. In addition to this classification, current analysis also use immunohistochemistry to detect estrogen and progesterone receptors (RH), and HER2/neu, this information is useful to make a prognostic in treatment response and survival time. Mast cells have been associated with bad prognosis, because they participate in angiogenesis and tumor growth promoting metastases. This decreases life expectancy. Also mast cells express in the plasmatic membrane the receptor c-Kit (CD117) that is associated to cell proliferation. In this study, we evaluated if there are variations in the expression patterns of c-Kit receptor in mast cells present in breast adenocarcinoma samples; and if expression patterns are associated with the presence of metastases to ganglion. Samples of moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma were evaluated using histological, histochemistry and immunohistochemistry methods. Groups were classified according to their positivity to RH and HER2/neu, and subclassified if presented or not metastases. Also mast cells and expression patterns of c-Kit receptor were analyzed by a morphometric method. Groups with metastases showed higher amount of mast cells, compared with control group and their corresponding group without metastases. Mast cells with expression patterns 1 and 3 were more abundant in all the groups with metastasis. In groups without metastases mast cells with pattern 2 were predominant. Results suggest that the amount of mast cells and the expression patterns of c-Kit could be use as probable indicators, but not definitive of the presence of nodal metastases.

KEY WORDS: Breast adenocarcinoma; Metastases; Mast cells.