New biologic prognostic factors in breast cancer

Long-accepted prognostic factors for breast cancer patients include the number of axillary lymph nodes positive for cancer; size of the primary; histopathologic features such as nuclear grade, histologic grade, and mitotic index; and the estrogen and progesterone receptor status. Unfortunately, these factors are relatively insensitive in predicting which women are particularly at risk of relapse. Newer discoveries which are or may be better prognosticators of a breast cancer patient's future course include growth factors, oncogenes, thymidine labeling index, and measurement of DNA ploidy status by flow cytometry.