title: Immunohistochemical Profile of Breast Cancer Patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital in New Delhi, India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To assess the immunohistochemical expression of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PgR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) neu receptor in breast cancer and their associations with various clinicopathological characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a retrospective analysis of women who presented with primary, unilateral breast cancer in the Department of Medical Oncology at Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Delhi, India during the period from January 2008 to December 2011. Data were retrieved from the medical records of the hospital including both early and locally advanced cancer cases. ER, PgR and HER2neu expression in these patients was assessed and triple negative patients were identified. Associations of triple negative and non-triple negative groups with clinicopathological characteristics were also evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 1,284 women (mean age 52.1 years, 41.9% premenopausal) were included in the analysis. Hormone receptor positivity (ER and/or PgR) was seen in 63.4% patients, while 23.8% of tumors were triple negative. Only 23.0% were HER2 positive. Around 10.0% of tumors were both ER and HER2 positive. ER and PgR positivity was significantly associated with negative HER2 status (p-value<0.0001). Younger age, premenopausal status, higher tumor grade, lymph node negativity, advanced cancer stage, and type of tumor were strongly associated with triple negativity. Significantly, a smaller proportion of women had ductal carcinoma in situ in the triple negative group compared with the non-triple negative group (35.6% versus 60.8%, p-value<0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present analysis is one of the largest studies from India. The majority of the Indian breast cancer patients seen in our hospital present with ER and PgR positive tumors. The triple negative patients tended to be younger, premenopausal, and were associated with higher tumor grades, negative lymph nodes status and lower frequency of ductal carcinoma in situ.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, New Delhi, India E-mail : ddoval07@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Dinesh Chandra
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Doval
authors.forename: Anila
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Rupal
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.forename: Kapil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Ajay Kumar
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Dewan
authors.forename: Harit
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chaturvedi
authors.forename: Ullas
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Batra
authors.forename: Vineet
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Talwar
authors.forename: Sunil Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Shailendra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Vidula
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bhole
authors.forename: Anurag
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mehta
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002285:Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D017697:Premenopause / Q000378:metabolism; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000378:metabolism; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D063128:Tertiary Health Care; D064726:Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human