title: Tumour prothymosin alpha content, a potential prognostic marker for primary breast cancer.
abstract: In a previous report we suggested that the estimation of prothymosin alpha (PTA) levels in primary breast tumours might be used to identify breast cancer patients at high risk for distant metastasis (Dominguez F et al (1993) Eur J Cancer 29A: 893-897). Here the role of tumour PTA levels as predictor was investigated with respect to both disease-free survival (DFS) and survival. Tumours were obtained from a series of 210 consecutive female patients with ductal carcinoma who underwent surgery at the Hospital Xeral de Galicia (Santiago de Compostela, Spain). Characteristics including PTA tumour levels, number of positive axillary nodes, patient's age at surgery and tumour histological grade were significantly associated with DFS and survival, as determined by univariate analysis. Patients with tumours with low or moderate PTA levels demonstrated a statistically decreased rate of tumour recurrence and a statistically significant increased overall survival in comparison with those whose tumours had high PTA levels. Patient's relative risk of dying was 2.1 times greater for tumours with high PTA levels than for those tumours with low or moderate PTA levels. In conclusion, these data support the hypothesis that tumour high PTA levels is associated with a worse outcome.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Cirugia, Hospital Xeral de Galicia, Spain.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Magdalena
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dominguez
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Loidi
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Puente
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011379:Prognosis; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000378:metabolism*; D013947:Thymosin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D011498:Protein Precursors; C040782:prothymosin alpha; D013947:Thymosin