title: Near-absolute expression of the bcl-2 protein identifies a subgroup of stage II breast cancer patients with a most favorable outcome. Results of a clinicopathological study.
abstract: The clinical relevance of quantitative assessment of tumor-tissue expression of the bcl-2 protein in operated stage II breast cancer was investigated in this study. Thirty-five cases were studied by immunohistochemistry for the expression of bcl-2 protein and analyzed for disease outcome. One fourth (25%) of the cases were negative and 57% demonstrated near-absolute expression of the bcl-2 protein. No association was found between immunohistochemical detection of the protein with age, hormonal receptor status and tumor grading other than between bcl-2 and estrogen receptor expression (p=0.01). An impressively positive impact of near-absolute expression of bcl-2 on clinical outcome was identified. Our results provide evidence that quantitative assessment of bcl-2 expression constitutes a new approach in early breast cancer with potential clinical implications. We consider that molecular sub-staging of patients with stage II breast cancer by level of bcl-2 expression provides additional important prognostic information and prompts for investigation of its clinical significance on the issue of adjuvant systemic therapy.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Medical Oncology, School of Medicine, University of Ioannina, Greece. ebriasou@otenet.gr
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Briasoulis
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Agnantis
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zagorianakou
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamina
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gorezi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pavlidis
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000032:analysis*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2