Immunohistochemical and molecular subtypes of breast cancer in Nigeria.
OBJECTIVE
Previous studies suggest that the majority of breast cancer in Africans are hormone receptor negative and thus differ from breast cancer in other populations. We decided to evaluate the hormone receptor status of patients seen in our practice to see if they indeed differ from that of other populations.


METHODS
We prospectively collected and analyzed tumors from consecutive patients presenting to our clinic over an 18 months period from July 2004. During the period, we saw 192 patients without previous histological diagnosis and conducted routine histological and immunohistochemical analysis of their tumors for hormone receptor status.


RESULTS
Most, 65.1% of tumors were ER+, 54.7% were PR+ and 79.7% were HER2 negative. Majority of the tumors, 77.6% were luminal type A, 2.6% were luminal type B, 15.8% were basal type and the remaining 4.0% (6/152) were HER2+/ER- subtype. We found an association between hormone receptor status and tumor grade but not with stage at presentation.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that there is no difference in the pattern of hormone receptors in breast cancer patients of African origin compared to other populations and urge more use of hormone manipulation for management of breast cancer in this population.
Division of Oncology, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. cadebamo@yahoo.com
Clement A
CA
Adebamowo
Ayotunde
A
Famooto
Temidayo O
TO
Ogundiran
Toyin
T
Aniagwu
Chibuzor
C
Nkwodimmah
Effiong E
EE
Akang
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis*; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000032:analysis*; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000032:analysis*
D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human