MicroRNA-21 expression patterns and scoring in grade 3 breast cancers. Representative miR-21 ISH expression patterns and intensities in HER2-positive (A–F) and HER2-negative tumors (G–I). The miR-21 ISH signal (dark blue staining, examples indicated by arrows in (A)) is seen exclusively in stromal cells (A,D,F, and G), or in both stromal cells and cancer cells (B,C,E,H, and I). Stromal and cancer cell tissue compartments are indicated by St and Ca, respectively. In (D,G, and H), arrows indicate miR-21 positive stromal cells. The variations in miR-21 ISH signal intensity and prevalence of positive cells were scored 0, 1, 2, or 3 by two observers (see Material and Methods section) in both cancer and stromal cells. The miR-21CC and miR-21St scores are indicated (miR-21CC/miR-21St). All sections were counter stained with nuclear fast red. The examples are from tumors in the reference group and are representative for the individual tumors. Bar: 50 μm.