NM23-H1 PROTEIN IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EXPRESSION IN HUMAN BREAST-CANCER- RELATIONSHIP TO PROGNOSTIC FACTORS AND RISK OF RELAPSE

A series of 76 patients undergoing surgery for primary breast carcinom a has been prospectively studied in order to evaluate the relative wei ght of nm23-H1 protein expression in disease-free survival. Expression of nm23 protein was immunohistochemically assessed. In all, 39% (29/7 4) of the turners showed positive staining for nm23-H1 protein express ion. Negative nm23-H1 expression was found in poorly differentiated, t umors (p<0.02). There was no significant relationship between nm23-H1 and the other clinicopathological and biological features examined. In the univariate statistical analysis, node positivity, G3 histological grade and high flow cytometric S phase fraction (SPF) value proved to be significantly related to risk of relapse. In the multivariate anal ysis, only histological grade (G3) and high SPF values (>10.6) proved to be independently related to risk of relapse, with a hazard ratio of 9.84 and 7.98 respectively. Our preliminary study suggests that immun ohistochemical nm23-H1 expression should not be considered a marker fo r predicting tumor progression and patient prognosis.