Association of the involvement of axillary lymph nodes in HER‐2/neu overexpression in patients with breast cancer

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common type of diagnosed carcinoma among women in Iran. 1 Tumour markers seem to play a critical role in the treatment and management of patients. Human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2/neu or HER2) contributes to the progression of certain aggressive types of breast cancer. Overexpression of HER2 or its amplification could be observed in almost 15%-30% of breast cancers and is correlated with poor prognosis or increased disease recurrence. 2 Many studies have evaluated HER2 status in breast cancer patients with primary tumour stage, and its association with axillary lymph node status and tumour grading. Although some studies suggest that high expression of HER2 gene is an unfavourable prognosis factor, the issue remains controversial. 3 Considering the importance of lymph node involvement in prognosis and treatment of breast cancer, we examined the level of HER2 and its association with axillary lymph node involvement in breast cancer patients.By using the NCSS & PASS software, the sample size was calculated as 118 subjects.The inclusion criterion was non-metastatic breast cancer, and the exclusion criteria were presenting metastasis, T4-stage; metastatic disease at diagnosis; incomplete medical records; lack of access to patients' information.All medical records of patients with breast cancer, who referred to oncology departments of Omid and Imam Reza hospitals from 2006 to 2012, were evaluated All demographic characteristics and clinical variables were obtained and re-examined by a surgical oncology specialist. If the patient's medical record was incomplete and further examinations were necessary, we contacted the patient.SPSS was used to analyse all the obtained information. Student t test or Mann-Whitney test (the equivalent nonparametric test) was used to evaluate two independent groups. For assessing the study objectives, chi-squared and logistic regression analyses were used; also, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was performed to evaluate the normality of quantitative data.Written informed consents were obtained from the patients.Patients were ensured about the confidentiality of the data.The mean age of the participants was 48.82 years within the age range of 24-84 years; the average weight of the subjects was 67.46 kg. We evaluated the expression of ERs, PRs, ki-67 and HER2 receptors. The minimum values of ERs, PRs and ki-67 were 0 but HER2 with a minimum value of three.The pathological findings indicated that age was not significantly associated with type of carcinoma in groups (P = 0.617). According to ANOVA test, the descriptive statistics were not significantly different between the receptor groups.Only ER and PR were significantly correlated with age (P ˂ 0.05). Chi-squared test showed no significant association between type of carcinoma and metastasis (P = 0.864). However, there was an association between ER expression and carcinoma type (P = 0.000). In addition, chi-squared test showed a significant difference between ER-/ER+ and type of carcinoma (P ˂ 0.05). A signific...

Autophagy and Breast Cancer: Connected in Growth, Progression, and Therapy

“…Trastuzumab (Herceptin) —The Her2-positive breast cancer subtype accounts for ~20% of all breast cancers [ 161 ], and it is associated with poor prognosis [ 162 ]. Trastuzumab is a monoclonal antibody that targets the extracellular region of HER2 serving as a targeted therapy for Her2-positive breast cancer; however, many patients develop resistance to trastuzumab following an initial response [ 163 ].…”