Purpose: Reliable prognostic factors, including clinicopathological
parameters (Ed-alternatively, ’Reliable clinicopathologic prognostic
factors’) such as tumor size, axillary lymph node involvement, histologic
grade, menopausal patient status and steroid receptor status, are necessary
in the management of breast cancer for predicting clinical course and as
guide lines for adjuvant therapy. Recently, many reports have shown that
expression of p53 and c-erbB-2 products is associated with poor prognosis.
To elucidate the clinical value of p53 and c-erbB-2 protein expression as
prognostic factors, their immunoreactivities were compared with known
clinicopathologic prognostic factors. Methods: The expressions of p53
and c-erbB-2 proteins were analyzed by immunohistochemical method with
formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue samples of 71 invasive breast
carcinomas accumulated between 1996 and 1999 at Chungbuk National University
Hospital. The expressions of p53 and c-erbB-2 proteins were compared with
established prognostic factors such as tumor size, axillary lymph node
involvement, histologic grade, menopausal patient status and steroid hormone
receptor status. Statistical significance was analyzed by chi-square test.
Results: The immunoreactivities of p53 and c-erbB-2 proteins were
detected in 29.6% and 46.5%, respectively, of the samples. p53 positivity
was significantly higher in breast carcinoma that showed higher histologic
grade or was metastasized to more than 3 axillary lymph nodes (P<0.05).
There were no significant correlations between c-erbB-2 positivity and known
clinicopathologic prognostic factors. Conclusion: This study suggests
that expression of p53 protein could be used as a prognostic indicator in
the management of breast cancer. But the impact of p53 and c-erbB-2 protein
expression on overall survival and disease free survival rates should be
evaluated further before being used as independent prognostic factors.
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