[Recent prognostic factors for breast cancer]

The recent highlighted points in prognostic factors after breast cancer operation include: 1) the emergence of many genetic and biochemical markers, including c-erbB-2, int-2, EGFR, p53, nm23, LOH, E cadherin, s-phase fraction. The prognostic value of these factors is related to their role in cell cycle regulation, invasion/metastasis mechanisms, etc. The agents related to therapeutic effectiveness, namely p-glycoprotein, pS2, and bcl-2 may become important stratification factors when conducting clinical trials. Pathologic factors, like nodal status, however, are the most useful prognostic factors at the moment. Many newly developed prognostic factors should be examined by multivariate analysis and validated prospectively before clinical use.