Clinical significance of immunohistochemical Bcl-2 expression in invasive breast carcinoma

The immunohistochemical expression of bcl-2 protein, and its correlations w ith clinicopathological features and prognosis were studied in patients wit h invasive breast carcinoma. Bcl-2 positive expression significantly correl ated with hormone receptor positivity and histological tumor differentiatio n, and inversely correlated with p53 over-accumulation. No correlation was observed between bcl-2 expression and patient age, menopausal status, tumor size, and lymph node metastasis. Survivals of stage I to III patients who had not received adjuvant hormonal therapy showed no difference between bcl -2-positive and -negative tumors, even if patients were divided as with or without adjuvant chemotherapy, or with or without nodal involvement. In con sequence, immunohistochemical bcl-2-positivity correlates with positive hor mone receptors and well differentiated phenotypes in invasive breast carcin oma, however, it might not predict response to adjuvant chemotherapy and no t be a favorable predictive value in patients treated without adjuvant horm onal therapy.