HER-2 NEU AND FIBRINOLYTIC FACTORS IN HUMAN BREAST-CANCER/

HER-2/neu status and t-PA, u-PA, and PAI-1 cytosol content were evalua ted in 88 primary breast cancer patients to determine the relationship s between these parameters. HER-2/neu was amplified in 24% (20/84) of tumor samples and overexpressed in 28% (14/50). In the overall series, median t-PA, u-PA and PAI-1 contents, measured by the enzyme-linked i mmmunoassay (ELISA), resulted in 1.7, 1.1 and 1.0 ng/mg cytosol protei n (cyt prot), respectively. HER-2/neu overexpressed cases showed highe r u-PA levels than those normally expressed whereas t-PA and PAI-1 lev els did not vary in HER-2/neu altered and non altered cases. The t-PA levels did not differ in cases with or without HER-2/neu alterations, when separately considering the node-negative and node-positive cases. A significant relationship between t-PA levels and HER-2/neu alterati ons was observed only in the ER(+) tumors: t-PA levels were lower in a mplified and overexpressed cases (1.4 versus 2.5 ng/mg cyt prot in amp lified and single copy gene, respectively; 1.6 versus 2.3 ng/mg cyt pr ot in overexpressed and normally expressed cases, respectively). There fore, t-PA and HER-2/neu could provide additional prognostic informati on for ER-negative patients.