title: The prognostic significance of c-erbB-2 serum protein in metastatic breast cancer.
abstract: The relationship between c-erbB-2 serum positivity and prognosis was evaluated in 80 patients with metastatic breast cancer. Using 120 fmol/ml as a cutoff level, elevated concentrations were found in 31 patients (38.8%) at the time of detection of metastases. Menopausal status, steroid receptor status, site of recurrence, initial tumor size, initial degree of nodal involvement as well as relapse-free interval were unrelated to c-erbB-2 serum positivity. In addition, no association could be found between adjuvant chemotherapy and positive c-erbB-2 concentrations. Patients with elevated c-erbB-2 levels showed a lower response rate (including complete remission, partial remission, no change) to first-line therapy than those with normal levels (29 vs. 59%, p < 0.01). The median survival time after relapse was 12 months (CI: 3-22 months) for the c-erbB-2-negative patients and only 6 months (CI: 3-8 months) for the c-erbB-2-positive group (p < 0.01). In the multivariate analysis, while c-erbB-2 levels at the time of primary surgery had no significant impact on survival in metastatic breast cancer, serum c-erbB-2 turned out to be the strongest factor for predicting survival after relapse.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fehm
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Maimonis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Katalinic
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Jäger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000097:blood*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases