Article Text
Abstract
Introduction Breast cancer is the first women’s cancer in terms of frequency and mortality.
New biomarkers have been tested in this cancer with prognostic and therapeutic implications.
Objective To assess the prognostic value of the expression of p53 in breast cancer
Methods Our study was retrospective. An immunohistochemical study of the p53 protein was tested on tissue samples of breast cancer.
We analyzed the correlation between this expression and other conventional prognostic factors: age, tumor size, lymph node invasion, modified SBR grade, profile expression of hormone receptors, and HER-2.
Results Thirty-five patients were enrolled in the study. The average age of our patients was 53.6 years. The average size of the nodules was 5.27 cm. Most tumors (80%) were invasive breast carcinoma of non-specific type, of histological grade II (52%). Almost half (49%) of our patients had lymph node metastases at the time of diagnosis. The immunohistochemical study revealed an expression of estrogen receptors in 37% of the cases, of progesterone receptors in 34% of the cases and of the HER-2 in 65% of the cases. As for the protein p53, it was expressed in 80% of the cases. We found no correlation between p53 expression and classical prognostic factors as well as survival.
Conclusion Although several studies have found a correlation between the expression of p53 and the classic prognostic factors of breast cancer, the status of p53 cannot be applied routinely such as tumor stage, lymph node status, and histological grade.