Association of HER-2/neu overexpression with the number of involved axillary lymph nodes in hormone receptor positive breast cancer patients.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the prognostic significance of HER-2/neu overexpression in hormone receptor and axillary lymph node positive breast cancer patients treated in a single institution.


METHODS
Paraffin-embedded primary breast cancers from 40 patients with invasive ductal carcinoma were studied immunohistochemically. HER-2/neu staining was classified as negative (0, 1+), weak/moderate positive (2+), or moderate/strong positive (3+) and was assessed for effectiveness as a predictor of outcome in univariate and Cox model multivariate analyses.


RESULTS
20% of patients were positive for HER-2/neu. Significant associations were observed between HER-2/neu and increasing number of involved nodes (p = 0.014), p53 positivity (p = 0.039), the presence of vascular invasion (p = 0.029) and metastases (p = 0.01). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that HER-2/neu overexpression (p = 0.016) and age (p = 0.005) were independent predictors for disease-free survival (DFS) where the number of involved nodes (p = 0.032) was shown to be independent predictor for overall survival. In the HER-2/neu positively stained tumors, significant number of patients developed distant metastases than the patients with HER-2/neu negatively stained tumors (87.5% vs 34.4%, p = 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
For node positive patients, HER-2/neu overexpression was a significant predictor of DFS.
Department of Radiation Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Trakya University, Edirne 22030, Turkey. fusun_t@yahoo.com
Fusun
F
Tokatli
Tokatli
T
Fusun
Semsi
S
Altaner
Altaner
A
Semsi
Cem
C
Uzal
Uzal
U
Cem
Mevlut
M
Ture
Ture
T
Mevlut
Zafer
Z
Kocak
Kocak
K
Zafer
Kazim
K
Uygun
Uygun
U
Kazim
Selcuk
S
Bilgi
Bilgi
B
Selcuk
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001365:Axilla; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000556:secondary; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D011379:Prognosis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D015996:Survival Rate; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000378:metabolism
D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53