PROGNOSTIC EVALUATION OF ESTROGEN-REGULATED PROTEIN IMMUNOREACTIVITY IN DUCTAL INVASIVE (NOS) BREAST-CANCER

Determination of steroid receptors and several oestrogen-regulated pro teins in mammary carcinomas is useful in the prediction of their evolu tion and of the likely success of endocrine therapy. Cathepsin D (Cat D), pS2 peptide and heat shock protein 27 (Hsp 27) were detected immun ohistochemically in 63 infiltrating ductal (NOS) breast carcinomas, an d our results were qualitatively correlated with several clinicopathol ogical indicators and patients' overall survival. Cat D immunostaining of tumour cells was strongly associated with axillary nodal involveme nt (P-f = 0.0005) and so, it is directly connected with the metastatic capacity of malignant cells. pS2 immunoreactivity was correlated with oestrogen and progesterone receptor positivity (P-f = 0.0009 and P-f = 0.05 respectively) and, nonsignificantly, with good differentiation of the tumours (P-f = 0.06). Neoplastic cells expressing this protein are therefore characterised by a highly organised state of cellular ph ysiology. Hsp 27 was expressed predominantly in tumours with one to fo ur infiltrated lymph nodes (P-t = 0.05), and Hsp 27-positive patients were inclined to rather short survival, possibly due to chemotherapy r esistance. In future, prognostic estimation of each one of the examine d markers should be performed in specific large subgroups of patients. The findings of this study contribute to the tablishment of criteria by which these subgroups should be formed.