Oncogenes in male breast cancer

The objective of this study was to assess the degree of expression and prognostic significance of c-erbB-2, p53, and bcl-2 in male breast cancer (MBC). Thirty male patients with the diagnosis of adenocarcinoma of the breast were studied retrospectively. All patients underwent surgery; c-erbB-2, p53, and bcl-2 were immunohistochemically stained on sections from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues. Seventeen (56.7%) of the 30 cases of MBC were bcl-2 positive. Few specimens were found positive for c-erbB-2 (6.7%) and p53 (6.7%). The 5-year survival rate was marginally better for those patients with tumors staining positively for bcl-2 (p = 0.05). It was impossible to estimate the association between survival rate and p53 and c-erbB-2 expression because of the small number of positively stained specimens. In this study, only bcl-2 showed marginal association to other tumor parameters and a trend toward a better 5-year survival rate. At present there is inadequate evidence to support the use of molecular markers as independent prognostic markers in MBC.