PROGNOSTIC-SIGNIFICANCE OF COLONY-STIMULATING FACTOR-RECEPTOR EXPRESSION IN IPSILATERAL BREAST-CANCER RECURRENCE

The macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor (CSF-1R), the produc t of the c-fms proto-oncogene, regulates normal proliferation and diff erentiation of macrophages and trophoblasts, Recent research found abn ormal expression of CSF-1R in human carcinomas of the breast, endometr ium, and ovary. Furthermore, activation of CSF-1R by its ligand has be en shown to regulate invasiveness and anchorage-independent growth in breast carcinoma cells. To study the significance of CSF-1R expression in breast cancer, we designed a case-controlled immunohistochemical s tudy. We chose 80 patients from a database of 1200 early stage I or II breast cancer patients treated with conservative surgery and radiatio n therapy. Expression of CSF-1R in the tumors of 40 patients who exper ienced an ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (IBTR) as a primary site of relapse were compared with 40 patients who had not experienced an IBTR, The index and control patients were matched by age, clinical sta ge, nodal status, and follow-up. Paraffin-embedded sections were immun ostained with antibodies directed toward CSF-1R, For the CSF-1R antibo dy, a total of 28 index cases (70%) demonstrated strong staining, wher eas only 16 control cases (40%) demonstrated high immunoreactivity (P = 0.007). The CSF-1R antibody showed a positive correlation for local relapse, but no correlation was found between CSF-1R expression and di stant metastasis, In summary, our findings provide evidence for the po or prognostic role of CSF-1R in IBTR.