bcl-2 and apoptosis in lymph node positive breast carcinoma

✍ Scribed by Melora D. Berardo; Richard M. Elledge; Carl de Moor; Gary M. Clark; C. Kent Osborne; D. Craig Allred

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 296 KB
• Volume: 82
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19980401)82:7<1296::aid-cncr12>3.0.co;2-1

✦ Synopsis

favorable prognostic factors, including a lower number of positive lymph nodes, Texas.

absence of p53 protein accumulation, estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone 3 University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer receptor (PR) positivity, diploidy, and a lower proliferative rate. However, although Center, Houston, Texas.

bcl-2 is generally considered a negative regulator of apoptosis, in these tumors there was no significant association between bcl-2 and apoptosis. Patients with high bcl-2 expression had significantly improved disease free survival (DFS) (P õ 0.0001) and overall survival (OS) (P õ 0.0001). In a multivariate analysis, bcl-2 expression was independently associated with better DFS (P Å 0.004). Regarding apoptosis, the presence of ¢1% apoptotic cells was significantly associated with a greater number of positive lymph nodes, p53 protein expression, ER and PR negativity, aneuploidy, and a higher proliferation rate, although there was no significant association with a worse clinical outcome when this dichotomized cutoff Presented in part at the San Antonio Breast Canwas used. cer Symposium, December 1996, and published

CONCLUSIONS.

For lymph node positive breast carcinoma patients, high bcl-2 exin abstract form in Breast Cancer Res Treat pression is associated with a number of good prognostic factors and is indepen-1996;37:37 1996.

dently associated with better clinical outcome. Apoptosis is associated with a number of poor prognostic factors but not with a significantly worse outcome. Cancer