Flow cytometric analysis of Ki-67 in invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast: correlation with tumor and patient characteristics.
Of all markers associated with cellular proliferation in breast carcinoma, Ki-67 has more often been correlated with prognosis in patients with these tumors than others. To investigate the relevance of Ki-67 determination at each phase of the cell cycle in the biological assessment of mammary carcinoma we applied bivariate Ki-67/DNA content analysis on samples from 154 resected primary lesions. Three Ki-67-derived indices including an overall and G1 and S+G2M indices were generated. These values were correlated with similar indices derived from flow cytometric DNA/RNA analysis and traditional clinicopathologic factors. The results show that overall Ki-67 indices do not correlate with flow cytometric values and clinicopathologic factors. Flow-derived Ki-67 and DNA S+G2M indices were positively correlated (p<0.0001, r=0.58). High indices for the S+G2M phase derived by both Ki-67 and DNA analysis were significantly correlated with DNA aneuploidy, high tumor grade, and negative hormonal status. We conclude that the proliferative fraction (S+G2M) by either Ki-67 or DNA analyses offers more practical and clinically relevant information in assessing the proliferative activity in mammary carcinoma.
Steck
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Department of Pathology, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Hunt
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Tucker
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Singletary
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El-Naggar
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AK
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002453:Cell Cycle; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000032:analysis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging
D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen