title: Oncogenes in male breast cancer.
abstract: The objective of this study was to assess the degree of expression and prognostic significance of c-erbB-2, p53, and bcl-2 in male breast cancer (MBC). Thirty male patients with the diagnosis of adenocarcinoma of the breast were studied retrospectively. All patients underwent surgery; c-erbB-2, p53, and bcl-2 were immunohistochemically stained on sections from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues. Seventeen (56.7%) of the 30 cases of MBC were bcl-2 positive. Few specimens were found positive for c-erbB-2 (6.7%) and p53 (6.7%). The 5-year survival rate was marginally better for those patients with tumors staining positively for bcl-2 (p = 0.05). It was impossible to estimate the association between survival rate and p53 and c-erbB-2 expression because of the small number of positively stained specimens. In this study, only bcl-2 showed marginal association to other tumor parameters and a trend toward a better 5-year survival rate. At present there is inadequate evidence to support the use of molecular markers as independent prognostic markers in MBC.
authors.affiliation: Institutes of Oncology, Kaplan Medical Center, Rehovot, Israel.
authors.forename: Efraim
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Idelevich
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mozes
authors.forename: Noa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ben-Baruch
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huszar
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kruglikova
authors.forename: Rivka
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Katsnelson
authors.forename: Adi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shani
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D018567:Breast Neoplasms, Male / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53