c-myc gene amplification in selected node-negative breast cancer patients correlates with high rate of early relapse.
In breast cancers with histologically negative axillary nodes selected for high frequency of recurrence, the amplification of c-myc, erbB-2 and int-2 genes was found to concern, respectively 25% (16/65), 31% (25/81) and 14% (10/70) of tumours. Their relation with tumour progression expressed by relapse-free survival is reported. Using univariate analyses, c-myc amplified tumours showed significant association with early (30-month period after diagnosis) (P = 0.0013) and intermediate (50-month period after diagnosis) (P = 0.0398) risks of recurrence. In contrast, only a trend towards higher relapse was observed in erbB-2 amplified breast cancers with respect to later events (occurring over the first 30-month period). Multivariate analyses indicated that c-myc amplification is an independent prognostic factor stronger than oestrogen receptor status and tumour size to define a high risk subset in node-negative patients selected for high frequency of recurrence.
Laboratoire de Cancérologie Biologique, APM, Faculté de Médecine Nord, Marseille, France.
M
M
Roux-Dosseto
S
S
Romain
N
N
Dussault
C
C
Desideri
L
L
Piana
P
P
Bonnier
N
N
Tubiana
P M
PM
Martin
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D051518:Fibroblast Growth Factor 3; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors; D005784:Gene Amplification / Q000502:physiology*; D016259:Genes, myc / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000235:genetics*; D011379:Prognosis; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D011519:Proto-Oncogenes / Q000502:physiology; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases
D051518:Fibroblast Growth Factor 3; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; C496444:FGF3 protein, human