Summary The proliferative activity of a tumour is considered to be an important prognostic factor in primary breast cancer. We have investigated the prognostic value of the MIB-1 labelling index in 341 patients with primary breast cancer and compared the results with the S-phase fraction in 220 patients of the same cohort. All patients were treated in one hospital and had a median follow-up of 128 months. No correlation between MIB-1 labelling and S-phase fraction could be demonstrated. MIB-1 had prognostic value for disease-free survival in the whole group of patients (P < 0.001) and in the node-negative subgroup (P < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, MIB-1 was an independent prognostic factor (P = 0.004) besides axillary lymph node status (P = 0.001). In univariate analysis high S-phase fraction was associated with decreased overall survival (P = 0.04); however, not in multivariate analysis. Moreover, S-phase fraction had a borderline prognostic significance for post-relapse survival in multivariate analysis (P= 0.08). Thus, in conclusion, the growth fraction of a tumour as determined by the MIB-1 labelling index is an important prognostic factor in patients with primary breast cancer.

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SummaryBackground: CD44 is an adhesion molecule and represents a highly variable family of isoforms. The isoform CD44v6 has been associated with metastasis formation and poor prognosis in animal models and human colon cancer. Results of studies in primary breast cancer are relatively small and contradictory.Patients and methods: The immunohistochemical expression of CD44v6 was studied in a series of 338 patients with primary breast tumours, uniformly staged and treated in a single center with a long median follow-up of 128 months. The prognostic

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