title: Overexpression of Raf-1 in basal-like carcinoma of the breast: correlation with clinicopathology and prognosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Increased Raf-1 expression has been associated with an aggressive behaviour in some carcinomas such as pulmonary carcinoma and renal carcinoma. However, its role in breast cancer, especially in basal-like carcinoma of the breast (BLBC), has not been defined.
  
  
  METHODS
  The current study attempted to investigate the expression pattern of Raf-1 protein in BLBC, in relation to the biological behaviour and prognosis of the carcinoma. Expression of Raf-1 was detected by immunohistochemistry in carcinoma specimens from 74 cases of BLBC, and associations between their expression and the clinicopathological characteristics were statistically assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The patients' age, tumour size, BRCA1, and p53 protein expression was not significantly different between the Raf-1-positive and Raf-1-negative expression groups (p > 0.05). The proportion of histological grade 3 tumours was not significantly higher in the Raf-1 positive group than that of grade 2 tumours (p > 0.05). However, positive cytoplasmic Raf-1 expression was positively correlated to Ki-67 expression (p < 0.05). Also, increased Raf-1 protein was found to exert an unfavourable impact on patients' axillary lymph node metastasis and overall survival (p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study implies that positive Raf-1 expression in BLBC is associated with a more aggressive phenotype and could be considered as a new prognostic biomarker for poor survival in BLBC patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Huaian Maternity and Child Health Hospital, Huaian, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xizhou
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yangmei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhongzhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Weiqiang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zheng
keywords: Raf-1; aggressive phenotype; basal-like breast carcinoma