title: Identification of prognostic different subgroups in triple negative breast cancer by Her2-neu protein expression.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Many patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) have a poor outcome, but not all of them. This study has the aim to analyse the prognostic impact of tumour size, nodal status, grading, Her2-neu (human epithelial growth factor receptor 2) score and Ki-67 index. The main goal of this analysis is to find out if there are any differences in survival between patients with TNBC and a Her2-neu score 0 versus 1+2.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospectively, we studied a cohort of 121 patients with TNBC, diagnosed at the Saarland University Medical Center between December 2004 and June 2013. We compared the disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in those women on the basis of the different Her2-neu scores (0 versus 1 or 2 with negative FISH).
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and twenty one patients were included in this study. 58.68 % of them had a T2-4 tumour. 39.67 % were nodal positive and 67.77 % had high-grade tumours. The Her2-neu score was determined in 119 patients. 54.62 % of them had a score 0. In the 103 patients with a Ki-67 determination, the mean index was 44.5 %. We found that tumour size, nodal status and Her2-neu score are important prognostic factors. Patients with a Her2-neu score 0 had a significantly poorer outcome regarding DFS and OS. In contrast, the expression level of Ki-67 and the grading do not seem to have any prognostic value in TNBC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Besides tumour stage, grading and nodal status, the Her2-neu score 0 is able to function as a prognostic factor in patients with TNBC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Homburg University Medical Centre, University of Homburg, 66421, Homburg, Germany, gilda.schmidt@uks.eu.
authors.forename: Gilda
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Meyberg-Solomayer
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gerlinger
authors.forename: Ingolf
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Juhasz-Böss
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Herr
authors.forename: Achim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rody
authors.forename: Cornelia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liedtke
authors.forename: Erich-Franz
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Solomayer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001940:Breast / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D064726:Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases