Are breast cancer molecular classes predictive of survival in patients with long follow-up?

Dis Markers. 2013;35(6):595-605. doi: 10.1155/2013/347073. Epub 2013 Oct 30.

Abstract

In this study we investigate the clinical outcomes of 305 breast cancer (BC) patients, aged 55 years or younger, with long follow-up and according to intrinsic subtypes. The cohort included 151 lymph node negative (LN-) and 154 lymph node positive (LN+) patients. Luminal A tumors were mainly LN-, well differentiated, and of stage I; among them AR was an indicator of good prognosis. Luminal B and HER2 positive nonluminal cancers showed higher tumor grade and nodal metastases as well as higher proliferation status and stage. Among luminal tumors, those PR positive and vimentin negative showed a longer survival. HER2-positive nonluminal and TN patients showed a poorer outcome, with BC-specific death mostly occurring within 5 and 10 years. Only luminal tumor patients underwent BC death over 10 years. When patients were divided in to LN- and LN+ no differences in survival were observed in the luminal subgroups. LN- patients have good survival even after 20 years of follow-up (about 75%), while for LN+ patients survival at 20 years (around 40%) was comparable to HER2-positive nonluminal and TN groups. In conclusion, in our experience ER-positive breast tumors are better divided by classical clinical stage than molecular classification, and they need longer clinical follow-up especially in cases with lymph node involvement.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Breast Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Breast Neoplasms / mortality*
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / metabolism*
  • Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / mortality*
  • Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / secondary
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Humans
  • Kaplan-Meier Estimate
  • Lymphatic Metastasis
  • Middle Aged
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Proportional Hazards Models
  • Receptor, ErbB-2 / metabolism
  • Receptors, Estrogen / metabolism
  • Receptors, Progesterone / metabolism
  • Vimentin / metabolism

Substances

  • Receptors, Estrogen
  • Receptors, Progesterone
  • Vimentin
  • ERBB2 protein, human
  • Receptor, ErbB-2