Predictive value of c-erbB-2 and cathepsin-D for Greek breast cancer patients using univariate and multivariate analysis

The value of various prognostic factors in breast cancer patients has been determined in a number of studies, One hundred thirty-eight Greek women wer e followed up over a 5-year period after surgery for breast cancer, Amplifi cation and overexpression of c-erbB-2 was found in 22.4% and 29.7% of the r espective cases, and the concentration of total cytosolic Cathepsin-D (CD) in 46.4% of them was high (greater than or equal to 60 pmol/mg protein). Th e examined biological variables were compared with standard clinicopatholog ical prognostic factors for the disease and related to early relapse (ER; b efore 3 years), relapse-free survival (RFS; median, 5 years), and overall s urvival (OS; median, 5 years), It was found that high CD levels significant ly shorten ER of both node-negative and node-positive patients (P < 0.0001 and P = 0.002, respectively) and have prognostic value for RFS and OS of no de-negative patients (P = 0.0012 and P = 0.0288, respectively), but lose th eir value as relapse predictors for nodepositive patients for periods longe r than 3 years, Overexpression of c-erbB-2 was found to be predictive for O S of node-positive and -negative patients (P = 0.0048 and P = 0.0285, respe ctively), but its predictive power was weak for ER (P = 0.0456) and RFS (P = 0.0455) of node-negative patients and disappeared for node-positive patie nts. c-erbB-2 amplification offers minimal assistance to the prediction. In conclusion, high CD concentration is indicative of ER of patients, and c-e rbB-2 overexpression correlates with OS of patients.