Aim: This retrospective study was designed to analyze expression patterns of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and HER2/neu in Albanian patients with breast carcinoma to identify their relationships with tumor size, histological grade (HG), lymph node metastasis and relapse.
Methods: Patients with either biopsy or metastatic relapse were identified. Demographics, tumor characteristics, ER, PR, and HER2/neu status were retrospectively obtained from the medical records of patients treated with breast cancer during 2006-2011. Hormonal receptors and HER2/neu were assessed by immunohistochemistry. Association of ER, PR and HER2/neu with clinicopathological and molecular characteristics were studied using Fisher's test. P value ≤0.05 was considered significant.
Results: There were 110 patients included in the study. Mean patient age was 51.08±10.75 years. The overall immunoexpression of ER, PR and HER2/neu were found positive in 76 (69%), 73 (67%), and 16 (41%) patients, respectively. ER- was associated with higher histological grade (24% vs. 9.2%) and PR+ with tumor size (T2, 78.3 vs. 64.3) (p=0.02 and 0.05, respectively). ER and PR expression were significantly decreased in HER2/neu positive cases while HER2/neu levels correlated with tumor size (p=0.03) and nodal metastasis (p=0.03). No association was detected between ER, PR, HER2/neu and relapse.
Conclusion: A combination of ER, PR and HER2/neu and prognostic factors could be of clinical value by defining subgroups in Albanian breast cancer patients that might benefit from more aggressive treatment.
Keywords: ER; HER2/neu; PR; breast cancer; relapse.
Copyright© by the National Institute of Public Health, Prague 2016