Correlation of clinical, pathological status, hormone receptor and C-erbB-2 oncoprotein in breast cancer patients

This study is to evaluate the correlation of some established prognostic factors, hormone receptor and C-erbB-2 expression of breast cancer patients in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Beginning January 1997, 60 breast cancer patients who were treated either by mastectomy, breast conserving surgery or biopsy, were evaluated clinically in connection with age, menopausal status, stage, tumor size, nodes; also histologically regarding type, grade and mitotic index. Patients were evaluated for estrogen and progesterone receptor, as well as C-erbB-2 expression with immunohistochemical techniques. Median age was 47.5 years old, range from 28 to 80 years old. Most of them were premenopause (65.0%). One patient (1.7%) was a man. Most of the patients were stage IIB (25.0%), 51.7% with positive estrogen receptor and 65.9% with positive progesterone receptor. The type was mostly invasive duct carcinoma, high grade (70.0%). Most of the tumor size ranged between 2-5 cm (56.9%), with more than 3 nodes in 38.3% of patients. High mitotic index was found in 69.5% and positive C-erbB-2 in 71.7% patients. Correlation of C-erbB-2 and other prognostic factors showed that only stage, node and mitotic index had significant correlations (p = 0.016; 0.035 and 0.005, respectively). A significant correlation was also found between ER and PR level, PR and tumor size, stage and tumor size, stage and nodes, tumor size and nodes (p < 0.05), and a borderline correlation between ER and tumor size (p = 0.065) in conclusion, this preliminary study showed that breast cancer in Yogyakarta had an aggressive phenotype. C-erbB-2 positivity was correlated significantly with stage of the disease, number of nodes involved and mitotic index. Hormone receptors also correlated with some prognostic factors in breast cancer patients.