Purpose: To determine the prognostic significance of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), HER2/neu, Ki-67, and nm23 immunohistochemical expression with respect to progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in Turkish patients with invasive breast cancer (IBC).
Methods: Patients with IBC (n = 81; mean age = 51.9 ± 11.1 years) were prospectively enrolled at the Department of Oncology, Uludag University Medical Center, Bursa, Turkey. Immunohistochemistry was performed on formalin- fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections.
Results: We did not find any significant association between immunohistochemical expression of ER, PR, HER2/ neu, Ki-67, and nm23 and the baseline characteristics of IBC patients. The median patient PFS was 30 months (range 22-45), and the median OS was 32 months (range 23-46). Stratification of the patient population according to nm23 immunohistochemical expression revealed a statistically significant difference in terms of both OS (p < 0.05) and DFS (p < 0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that tumor grade, axillary lymph node status, and nm23 immunohistochemical expression were the 3 main independent prognostic factors for PFS and OS in IBC patients.
Conclusion: Reduced nm23 immunohistochemical expression is an independent negative prognostic factor for OS and PFS. Patients with negative nm23 expression may require a more intensive follow-up.