LOW-LEVELS OF BASIC FIBROBLAST GROWTH-FACTOR (BFGF) ARE ASSOCIATED WITH A POOR-PROGNOSIS IN HUMAN BREAST-CARCINOMA

It has been suggested that angiogenesis and angiogenic factors may be strong predictors of relapse in patients with breast carcinoma. We mea sured the levels of the angiogenic peptide basic fibroblast growth fac tor (bFGF) in 140 breast tumour cytosols using an immunoassay. There w ere no significant differences in bFGF levels between breast non-malig nant lesions and primary carcinomas. In 124 cases with primary breast cancer, we observed an association of low bFGF levels (< 400 pg mg(-1) ) with increasing tumour size (P= 0.023) and stage of disease (P = 0.0 02). bFGF levels did not correlate with other variables, including axi llary nodes, hormone receptors, cathepsin D and the serum tumour marke rs CA15.3 and CEA. With a median follow-up of 44.0 months, breast canc er patients with low levels of bFGF had a significantly shorter diseas e-free survival (DFS) than patients with elevated bFGF (log-rank, P < 0.0001). In a multivariate analysis of DFS, only bFGF, T-stage and his tological grade showed statistical significance. In a parallel evaluat ion of circulating bFGF, we did not observe a correlation between the serum and tissue bFGF levels in the 29 selected cases with matched det erminations. Our results indicate that low bFGF levels in breast carci noma are an independent prognostic indicator of poor prognosis and dis ease recurrence.