title: Prognostic value of proliferating cell nuclear antigen and c-erbB-2 compared with conventional histopathological factors in breast cancer.
abstract: Expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and c-erbB-2 oncoprotein has been assessed in 471 women with breast cancer to evaluate their prognostic value as compared to conventional histopathological factors. In univariate analysis, high PCNA expression (> or = 20%) predicted a significantly worse survival in lymph-node-negative tumors (univariate P = 0.031). However, the effect disappeared in multivariate analysis and the histological grade remained the only independent factor for this group. Despite its close correlation to histological grade (P < 0.001), PCNA expression discriminated subsets with different survival within the heterogeneous group of moderately differentiated tumors (univariate P = 0.073, multivariate P = 0.075). PCNA expression was not found to be a significant prognostic factor in lymph-node-positive tumors, thus it was of limited value for breast cancer patients as a whole. c-erbB-2 protein overexpression was associated with a worse survival (univariate P = 0.019, multivariate P = 0.057) for the entire group of patients. The effect was mainly attributed to the significance of c-erbB-2 as an independent factor in lymph-node-positive (up to three nodes, multivariate P = 0.04; four or more nodes: multivariate P = 0.017) and large tumors (> 2 cm: multivariate P = 0.002). c-erbB-2 was without significance in lymph-node-negative patients. Though both factors might amplify the prognostic information for distinct patient subsets they do not achieve the strong prognostic value of conventional histopathological features in breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University Hospital Rudolf Virchow Charlottenburg, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Schönborn
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zschiesche
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Minguillon
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Spitzer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Möhner
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ebeling
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Grosse
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen / Q000032:analysis*; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis*; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases