title: c-erbB-2 expression and benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy of breast cancer.
abstract: Frozen tissue from primary tumours of 152 premenopausal breast cancer patients, who participated in a trial comparing radiotherapy with adjuvant chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil, CMF), was analysed for c-erbB-2 protein expression, measured by flow cytometry. The relative risk of distant recurrence or death in the chemotherapy group as compared with the radiotherapy group was 3.0 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1-7.8) for patients whose tumours showed high c-erbB-2 levels and 0.87 (95% CI 0.43-1.7) for those with tumours with low levels of c-erbB-2 protein. Patients with highly proliferative tumours that did not overexpress c-erbB-2 benefited most, in terms of survival, from CMF. In addition, we found an increased risk of locoregional recurrence for tumours overexpressing c-erbB-2 when radiotherapy was replaced by chemotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Stål
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wingren
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Skoog
authors.forename: L E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Rutqvist
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Carstensen
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nordenskjöld
mesh_terms: D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000628:therapy*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000008:administration & dosage; D015870:Gene Expression; D018734:Genes, erbB-2; D006801:Humans; D008727:Methotrexate / Q000008:administration & dosage; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D017697:Premenopause; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D003520:Cyclophosphamide; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D005472:Fluorouracil; D008727:Methotrexate; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases