title: Over-expression of c-erbB-2 correlates with nuclear morphometry and prognosis in breast carcinoma in Asian women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to investigate the immunohistochemical expression of c-erbB-2 in invasive breast carcinoma in Asian women and its correlations with clinicopathological parameters and nuclear morphometry. Patients were followed up for disease relapse and overall survival, and the data were reviewed in conjunction with c-erbB-2 over-expression.
  
  
  METHODS
  Paraffin sections from 321 invasive breast cancers were immunohistochemically stained with anti-human c-erbB-2 antibody using the streptavidin-biotin technique.
  
  
  RESULTS
  c-erbB-2 was over-expressed in 110 (34.3%) cases, with an inverse correlation with oestrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status (p=0.0001) and a positive correlation with histological grade (p=0.017). Nuclear morphometry in 96 cases revealed rounder nuclei in c-erbB-2 negative tumours (p=0.0322) when compared with c-erbB-2 positive tumours. Among c-erbB-2 positive cases, malignant cells of histological grade 3 tumours revealed larger nuclear area and perimeter than grade 1 and 2 cases (p=0.0095, p=0.03, respectively) while increasing tumour size correlated with greater nuclear perimeter (p=0.046). c-erbB-2 positivity was significantly associated with poor survival when all patients were included in the analysis (p=0.0166) and for subsets of node positive, histological grade 1 and 2, and ER positive tumours, and in women aged over 50 years (p=0.0047, p=0.0367, p=0.0092, p=0.0096, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  c-erbB-2 was independently prognostic when histological grade, nodal and ER status were considered. Our results show that c-erbB-2 over-expression correlates with poor histological grade and negative ER/PR status, and predicts poor overall survival in Asian women with breast cancer.
authors: Department of Pathology, Singapore General Hospital.
authors: Sathiyamoorthy
authors: S
authors: Selvarajan
authors: Ka Yan
authors: KY
authors: Wong
authors: Kei Siong
authors: KS
authors: Khoo
authors: Boon Huat
authors: BH
authors: Bay
authors: Puay Hoon
authors: PH
authors: Tan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology / Q000378:metabolism*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone