title: Immunohistochemical assessment of the peripheral benzodiazepine receptor in breast cancer and its relationship with survival.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The peripheral benzodiazepine receptor (PBR) expression has been shown dramatically increased in neoplastic tissues and tumor cell lines originated from ovary, liver, colon, breast, or brain relative to untransformed tissues. Its expression has been also associated with tumor progression and aggressiveness. To explore whether PBR expression level could be of prognostic value in invasive breast cancer, we studied a series of 117 patients who underwent surgery for primary breast carcinomas and were followed-up for 8 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using an immunohistochemical approach, we first compared PBR expression in normal and tumoral tissues, then we studied PBR expression together with clinicopathological variables (histological type, histological grade, lymph node, estrogen and progesterone receptor status), and biological markers such as BclII, Ki-67, and HER2/Neu.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results revealed a significant increase of PBR expression in tumoral versus normal breast cells. We found a negative correlation between PBR expression and estrogen receptor status (P = 0.03) as well as a positive correlation between PBR and Ki-67 (P = 0.044). Although the disease-free survival was not affected by PBR in the whole population, high PBR expression level was significantly correlated with a shorter disease-free survival in the lymph node-negative patients, P = 0.038.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As the axillary lymph node-negative status is generally considered as a good prognosis factor, the high expression of PBR in this patient subgroup may be used to identify a new high risk population, for which a more specific therapy would be beneficial.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology-Oncology, Sanofi-Synthelabo Recherche, Val d'Aurelle-Paul Lamarque Cancer Institute, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Sylvaine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Galiègue
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Casellas
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kramar
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tinel
authors.forename: Joelle
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Simony-Lafontaine
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000032:analysis; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A / Q000032:analysis*; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000032:analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone