title: Clinical outcome of adjuvant endocrine treatment according to PR and HER-2 status in early breast cancer.
abstract: Patients with estrogen receptor (ER)+/progesterone receptor (PR)- and/or HER-2 overexpressing breast carcinomas may derive lower benefit from endocrine treatment. We examined retrospectively data from 972 breast cancer patients who received tamoxifen (725), tamoxifen + Gn-RH analogs (127) and aromatase inhibitors (120) as adjuvant treatments. ER+/PR- versus ER+/PR+ tumours were characterised by larger size (P = 0.001), higher tumour grade (P = 0.001), higher Ki-67 expression (P = 0.001) and lower mean ER (P = 0.000) and HER-2 expression (P = 0.000). At univariate analysis, tumour grading [hazard ratio (HR) = 4.0; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.4-11.1; P = 0.007], nodal status (HR = 3.4; 95% CI 1.2-5.7; P = 0.000), tumour diameter (HR = 2.9; 95% CI 1.7-4.7; P = 0.000) lack of PR expression (HR = 2.1; 95% CI 1.3-3.4; P = 0.002) and HER-2 overexpression (HR = 1.9; 95% CI 1.0-3.5; P = 0.03), as well as Ki 67 expression (HR = 1.7; 95% CI 1.0-2.7; P = 0.04) were associated with shorter disease-free survival (DFS). At the multivariate analysis, nodal status (HR = 3.6; 95% CI 1.9-6.8; P = 0.0001), lack of PR expression (HR = 2.3; 95% CI 1.3-4.0; P = 0.003) and tumour diameter (HR = 2.1; 95% CI 1.1-3.8; P = 0.018) retained their prognostic significance, whereas HER-2 overexpression was associated with a trend towards shorter DFS that was of borderline statistical significance (HR = 2.0; 95 % CI 1.0-3.9; P = 0.05). Our data suggest that lack of PR expression and HER-2 overexpression are both associated with aggressive tumour features, but the prognostic information of PR status on the risk of recurrence in endocrine-treated breast cancer patients is stronger.
authors.affiliation: Academic Units of Gynaecological Oncology, University of Turin, Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (IRCC) of Candiolo, A.S.O. Ordine Mauriziano, Turin, Italy. rponzone@mauriziano.it
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ponzone
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Montemurro
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Maggiorotto
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Robba
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gregori
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Jacomuzzi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kubatzki
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Marenco
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dominguez
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Biglia
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sismondi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006728:Hormones / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000378:metabolism*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D006728:Hormones; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone