Skip Navigation



Annals of Oncology Advance Access published online on December 12, 2008
Annals of Oncology, doi:10.1093/annonc/mdn675
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
20/4/628    most recent
mdn675v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Spitale, A.
Right arrow Articles by Bordoni, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Spitale, A.
Right arrow Articles by Bordoni, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Breast cancer classification according to immunohistochemical markers: clinicopathologic features and short-term survival analysis in a population-based study from the South of Switzerland

A. Spitale1,*, P. Mazzola1, D. Soldini2, L. Mazzucchelli2 and A. Bordoni1

1 Ticino Cancer Registry and
2 Clinical Pathology, Institute of Pathology, Locarno, Switzerland

* Correspondence to: Dr A. Spitale, Ticino Cancer Registry, Institute of Pathology, Via in Selva 24, CH-6600, Locarno, Switzerland. Tel: +41-91-8160827; Fax: +41-91-8160829; E-mail: alessandra.spitale{at}ti.ch

Background: Breast cancer may be classified into distinct molecular subtypes based on gene expression profiling and/or immunophenotypic characteristics. Aim of the study was to investigate prevalence, clinicopathologic features and overall survival (OS) of molecular subtypes, in a large European population-based study.

Patients and methods: All invasive breast cancers from 2003 to 2007 were selected from the files of Ticino Cancer Registry. Molecular subtypes were defined by immunohistochemical markers. Clinicopathological characteristics and short-term OS were analyzed.

Results: Of 1214 invasive breast cancers, 73.2% were luminal A subtype, 13.8% luminal B, 7.4% basal like and 5.6% Her2/neu. Basal like presented largely in premenopausal women and displayed aggressive features, such as large tumor size, poorly differentiated cancers, high Ki-67 proliferation index and the worst 24-month OS. Luminal A included the highest percentage of patients >70, the highest proportion of stage I tumors and well/moderately differentiated lesions. Her2/neu was more frequent in postmenopausal women and showed the highest percentage of positive lymph nodes and stage IV cases.

Conclusion: This is a comprehensive European population-based study on breast cancer molecular subtypes. We provide strong evidence that the molecular classification is useful for clinical management and superior to World Health Organization classification in terms of short-term prognostic value.

cancer registry, immunohistochemistry, molecular breast cancer subtypes

Received for publication August 27, 2008. Accepted for publication September 15, 2008.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.