title: Correlation of intensity of MT-I/II expression with Ki-67 and MCM-2 proteins in invasive ductal breast carcinoma.
abstract: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the clinical significance of the intensity of metallothionein (MT-I/II) expression and its relationship to two different proliferation markers, Ki-67 antigen and minichromosome maintaince 2 protein (MCM-2) in 117 patients with invasive ductal breast carcinoma (IDC). A significantly higher MT-I/II expression was noted in the grade 3 (G3) carcinomas as compared to those of G1 and G2. A positive correlation was observed between the MT-I/II expression and both proliferation markers, Ki-67 (r=0.20, p=0.0343) and MCM-2 (r=0.25, p=0.0065). Also a strong positive correlation was noted between Ki-67 and MCM-2 expression (r=0.52, p<0.0001). No significant correlations were found between the analyzed markers and tumour size, lymph node metastasis, oestrogen expression (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) or human epidermal growth-factor receptor (HER-2) expression. Out of the three studied markers only the high expression of Ki-67 exhibited a negative impact on patient overall and event free survival and was an independent prognostic factor. MT-I/II and MCM-2 protein expression was not correlated with poor patient outcome, although MCM-2 expression correlated (Fisher's exact test) positively with grade of malignancy (p=0.0018) and negatively with ER (p=0.0002) and PR (p=0.0056) expression. To conclude, MT-I/II may play a key role in IDC proliferation, but is not a useful prognostic factor of this disease.
authors.affiliation: Lower Silesian Oncology Centre, Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wojnar
authors.forename: Bartosz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pula
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Piotrowska
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jethon
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kujawa
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kobierzycki
authors.forename: Janusz
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rys
authors.forename: Marzena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Podhorska-Okolow
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dziegiel
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D044584:Carcinoma, Ductal / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism*; D008668:Metallothionein / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D064111:Minichromosome Maintenance Complex Component 2; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D008668:Metallothionein; C084859:MCM2 protein, human; D064111:Minichromosome Maintenance Complex Component 2