c-erbB-2 positive breast tumours behave more aggressively in the first years after diagnosis

Abstract

SummaryIn a retrospective study the expression of the c-erbB-2 oncogene was determined immunohistochemically in 276 breast cancer samples from 253 patients with the antibody 21N. The follow-up period was between 7 and 12 years. This study showed a trend for an inverse relationship between c-erbB-2 positive tumours and estrogen receptors (ER). A correlation was assessed between c-erbB-2 positive tumours and histological grade, liver metastases as first site of metastases, disease free survival time (DFS) in the second and third year after diagnosis and overall survival time (OST) in the third and fourth year after diagnosis. A trend was seen between c-erbB-2 positive tumours and tumour size. No correlation was found between c-erbB-2 positive tumours and age at diagnosis. The method of operation and lymph node involvement. From this study we conclude that there is a significant difference in prognosis the first years after diagnosis, but this difference seems to vanish in a longer follow-up period of 12 years. This provides us with an explanation for the discrepancies in literature concerning c-erbB-2 expression and prognosis in breast cancer. Some investigators did not show differences in prognosis between positive and negative cases after a long follow-up period whereas investigations with a short term follow-up period up to 2-3 years have indeed established a more aggressive behaviour of c-erbB-2 overexpressionary tumours.

The neu-protein and breast cancer

“…A strong negative association between neu-overexpression and oestrogen or progesteron receptor status has also been described [41,65,89]. The fact that most neuoverexpressing turnouts lack steroid receptors can be explained on the one hand by the repressed expression of the neu-protein during oestrogen-induced proliferation and on the other by its enhanced expression during growth arrest and/or differentiation of mammary cells.…”

“…In some multivariate analyses neu-overexpression retained its prognostic significance, being second to the classical prognostic indicators in breast cancer such as the number of invaded axillary lymph nodes, tumour size, turnout differentiation and receptor status [30,75). According to some investigators, neu-overexpressing tumours seem to behave worse particularly the first years after diagnosis [19,75], and these patients suffer from a shorter disease free survival time and shorter overall survival time between the 3rd and 4th year after diagnosis [65,75]. The difference in prognosis seems to vanish from the 5th year after diagnosis.…”

“…Most authors did not consider any significant relationship between neu-overexpression and nodal status [17,30,75], but, haematogenous metastases, organ metastases and liver metastases in particular, are more frequently observed in neu-overexpressing breast cancer patients [19,65]. Apart from its role in the assessment of prognosis, evaluation of the neu-protein in breast cancer patients from a clinical point of view might become important in the future treatment of patients by chemotherapy.…”

The p185 erbB2 protein is localized on cell organelles involved in cell motility

“…Knowledge about its biological function would provide insight into its role in human breast cancer. It may also generate novel data on the biology of breast cancer, since p185 erbn2 is overexpressed in about 20% of the breast cancers [24]. Because of its prognostic value [7], the inununolabeling for p185 erba2 is performed more and more frequently.…”

Expression of c-erbB-2 and p53 in Breast Carcinoma Patients: Comparison with Traditional Prognostic Factors and Survival

“…Other similar studies have also demonstrated no relationship between c-erbB-2 positivity and age. 11,15 It has been shown that oestrogen receptorpositive patients have a longer 5-year DFS rate than oestrogen receptor-negative A Gurkan, G Erdogan, O Erdogan et al Expression of c-erbB-2 and p53 in breast carcinoma patients patients; the difference was between 5% and 10%, and no differences were seen with progesterone receptor status. 16 In the present study we did not find any relationship between hormone receptor status and disease relapse or DFS.…”