Potential predictive factors for response to weekly paclitaxel treatment in patients with metastatic breast cancer

The authors compare results obtained from weekly paclitaxel treatment in advanced breast cancer patients with biological and clinical prognostic factors. Expression of c-erbB-2, Ki-67, p53 and hormone receptors (HR) was examined by immunohistochemistry in samples of breast tissue from 30 patients. Univariate analysis showed that Ki-67 positivity and low performance status (PS) were associated with poor outcome (P <0.05). We observed that expression of p53 and c-erbB-2 did not have any negative effect on response to chemotherapy and survival. HR-negative patients had better response and slightly statistically significant overall survival (OS) rates compared to HR-positive patients (P >0.05). In a multivariate analysis low PS was the only significant predictor of shorter survival (P <0.05). In conclusion, while the expression of p53 and c-erbB-2 did not have any effect on treatment results, negative Ki-67 expression and negative HR status were associated with better OS in this patient population. PS was the only significant predictor for OS.