Prediction of response to adjuvant chemotherapy in premenopausal lymph node positive breast cancer patients with morphometry, DNA flow cytometry and HER-2/neu oncoprotein expression. Preliminary results.
The value of morphometry, DNA flow cytometry and HER-2/neu oncoprotein expression for prediction of response to adjuvant chemotherapy in premenopausal lymph node positive breast cancer patients was evaluated in a group of CMF treated patients and controls with long-term follow-up. In the treated group, the Morphometric Prognostic Index (cutpoint 1.1) was the best prognosticator (p less than 0.0001, MC = 16.9), followed by the Mitotic Activity Index, the volume percentage epithelium and the number of positive nodes. For the controls, only the % HER-2/neu oncoprotein expression revealed significant differences (p less than 0.0001, MC = 16.3). When directly comparing treated patients and controls stratified for a certain parameter, no significant differences were obtained, although a trend towards improved survival in the treated group was present for some of the subgroups for several parameters. These preliminary results indicate that morphometric features and quantitative HER-2/neu oncoprotein expression may be important factors for identifying cases that will or will not respond to adjuvant chemotherapy.
van Diest
P J
PJ
Institute for Pathology, Free University Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Baak
J P
JP
Matze-Cok
P
P
Bacus
S S
SS
D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008598:Menstruation / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009856:Oncogene Proteins, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013194:Staining and Labeling
D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D009856:Oncogene Proteins, Viral; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases