Human breast carcinomata in organ culture: the effect of hormones

This study attempted to reproduce an experiment which claimed that histochemical assessment of pentose-shunt activity of human breast tumors maintained in the presence and absence of hormones can provide a reliable index for response to endocrine therapy. 3 experimental techniques for frozen sectioning were tried: in Group 1 (CO2 quick-frozen) 6/14 sections showed enhanced pentose-shunt activity; in Group 2 (liquid hexane quick-frozen), 5/52 sections showed activity; and in Group 3 (liquid N2), 2/28--making a total of 10/83 sections showing enhanced pentose-shunt activity. These findings indicate that the test for hormone sensitivity in organ culture is not reproducible, though 70% of the tumors were well-maintained in culture.