title: A significant proportion of elderly patients develop hormone-dependant "luminal-B" tumours associated with aggressive characteristics.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To investigate the influence of ageing on the incidence of breast cancer (BC) molecular subtypes, patient age at diagnosis was correlated with bio-pathological data collected retrospectively from 2723 consecutive patients diagnosed/treated at our Institute between 2000 and 2003.
  
  
  METHODS
  According to their bio-characteristics, 61% of the samples could be assigned to a molecular subtype: the "HER-2+", the "ER & HER2 negative" or one of the two "luminal-like" subtypes divided according to their histological grade ("A" [HER-2-/ER+/grade 1-2] and "B" [HER-2-/ER+/grade 3]).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Age is highly influencing the incidence of BC molecular subtypes. Patients younger than 40 develop a statistically higher rate of high grade proliferating "HER-2" (27%) and "ER & HER2 negative" (31%) BC whereas patients older than 50 develop mostly less aggressive hormone-dependant "luminal-A" BC (>67%). Nevertheless, a significant proportion of patients older than 70 develop "luminal-B" (19%) tumours associated with high proliferation, high grade, large size and nodal invasion.
authors.affiliation: Translational Research Unit, Jules Bordet Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Durbecq
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ameye
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Veys
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paesmans
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Desmedt
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sirtaine
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sotiriou
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bernard-Marty
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Nogaret
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Piccart
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Larsimont
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D009376:Neoplasms, Hormone-Dependent / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000096:biosynthesis; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000096:biosynthesis; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000096:biosynthesis; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone