Prognostic relevance of activated Akt kinase in node-negative breast cancer: a clinicopathological study of 99 cases.
Patients with lymphnode-negative breast cancer show a 10-year tumor recurrence rate of approximately 30%. Therefore, it is important to identify high-risk patients who would benefit from further adjuvant therapy. For this purpose, we examined the activation state of two kinases important in the regulation of cell proliferation and apoptosis in a series of 99 node-negative breast cancer cases with a mean follow-up of 10 years: Akt and extracellular regulated kinase (ERK1/2). The activation of Akt and ERK1/2 was investigated by immunohistochemistry using phospho-specific antibodies. The results were correlated with HER-2/neu expression, histological grading, receptor status, overall survival (OS) as well as with cell proliferation (Ki67 immunoreactivity, mitotic count) and tumor apoptosis assessed by TUNEL staining. Activation of Akt (pAkt) but not activation of ERK1/2 (pERK1/2) correlated with HER-2/neu overexpression (P<0.05) and was related to reduced tumor apoptosis (P<0.05). No association was found between pAkt or pERK1/2 with cell proliferation assessed by Ki67 and mitotic count (MC). Survival analysis of receptor status, HER2/neu expression, histological grading, MC and pAkt immunoexpression showed a significant correlation with decreased OS, but only pAkt reached statistical significance in the multivariate Cox regression analysis (P=0.015). Activation of Akt in node-negative breast cancer may indicate aggressive tumor behavior and may constitute an independent prognostic factor of OS. The determination of pAkt status may be of value in identifying high-risk patients, who would benefit from adjuvant therapy, and gives a rationale to investigate new therapy strategies by specific inhibition of the Akt signaling pathway in breast cancer.
Schmitz
Klaus Jürgen
KJ
Institute of Pathology, University of Essen, Germany.
Otterbach
Friedrich
F
Callies
Rainer
R
Levkau
Bodo
B
Hölscher
Melanie
M
Hoffmann
Oliver
O
Grabellus
Florian
F
Kimmig
Rainer
R
Schmid
Kurt Werner
KW
Baba
Hideo Andreas
HA
D017209:Apoptosis; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000032:analysis; D008875:Middle Aged; D019950:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1 / Q000032:analysis; D048052:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 3 / Q000032:analysis; D008940:Mitotic Index; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000032:analysis*; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000032:analysis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D019950:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1; D048052:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 3; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human