Digital quantification of somatostatin receptor subtype 2 immunostaining in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors and GH-secreting adenoma: A validation study

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Introduction: Somatostatin receptor subtype 2 (SST2) immunostaining (IHC) is routinely performed in neuroendocrine tumors (NET) and recommended in acromegaly guidelines. No univocal score of SST2 IHC has been validated yet.

Aim(s): To develop a reproducible digital quantification of SST2 staining (quantitative analysis) and to compare it with a widely used semi-quantitative immunoreactivity score (IRS).

Materials and methods: SST2 IHC of 18 pancreatic NET (panNET) was assessed using both the IRS and the digital image analysis (DIA). DIA was then validated in 39 GH-secreting adenoma (GHomas). The DIA software calculates the staining intensity and the percentage of positive cells (% PC) based on four representative images selected for each sample (in duplicate, selector S1 and S2) and in which the tumoral tissue was then defined (duplicate, analyser A1 and A2). Agreement between the selectors/analysers was calculated with the concordance correlation coefficient (CCC).

Conference:

Presenting Author: Campana C

Authors: Campana C, van Koetsveld P, Iyer A, van Velthuysen M, van den Dungen E,

Keywords: SST2, digital image analysis, panNET, staining intensity, percentage of positive cell,