title: C-Met in invasive breast cancer: is there a relationship with the basal-like subtype?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Basal-like (BL) breast cancer is an aggressive form of breast cancer with limited treatment options. Recent work has identified BL breast cancer as a biologically distinct form of triple-negative breast cancer, with a worse outlook. The receptor tyrosine kinase c-Met is a novel therapeutic target associated with reduced survival in breast cancer. Few studies have specifically addressed the association between c-Met and molecular subtype of breast cancer, yet this is a key consideration when selecting patients for clinical trials. The aim of this study is to evaluate c-Met expression in a large cohort of invasive breast cancers and in particular, its correlation with molecular subtype.
  
  
  METHODS
  Immunohistochemistry for c-Met was performed and evaluated on 1274 invasive breast cancers using tissue microarray technology. The c-Met scores were correlated with molecular subtype, survival, and other standard clinicopathological prognostic factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Multivariate logistic regression showed c-Met was independently associated with BL status (odds ratio=6.44, 95% confidence interval=1.74-23.78, P=.005). There was a positive correlation between c-Met and Her2 (P=.005) and an inverse correlation with tumor size (P<.001). C-Met was an independent poor prognostic factor at Cox regression analysis in all subtypes (hazard ratio=1.85, 95% confidence interval=1.07-3.19, P=.027) and there was a trend toward reduced survival in BL tumors overexpressing c-Met, but this was not significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  C-Met is independently associated with BL breast cancer. In the future, patients with BL tumors should be included in clinical trials of anti-c-Met therapy.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Tumour Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Colan M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Ho-Yen
authors.forename: Andrew R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: Emad A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Rakha
authors.forename: Adam R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Brentnall
authors.forename: Ian O
authors.initials: IO
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kermorgant
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met / Q000378:metabolism*; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human
keywords: basal-like; breast cancer; c-Met; triple negative