Immunohistochemical analysis of prostate-specific antigen does not correlate to other prognostic factors in breast cancer

Background: prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is found in 30-40% of female br east tumors, as recently described. Diamandis and co-workers could demonstr ate that PSA correlate significantly to a relapse-free survival and lower t umor stages in patients with breast cancer using a time-resolved immunofluo rometric analysis. The presence of PSA in these tumors seems to reflect a f avorable prognostic marker for that disease. The aim of our study was to ev aluate the role of PSA as a prognostic factor in breast cancer using art im munohistochemical technique. Materials and Methods: The PSA immunoreactivit y of tissues from one-hundred women with malignant breast tumors was correl ated to tumor staging, histomorphological tumor type, and biochemical estro gen and progesterone receptor content. Additionally, survival analysis was performed according to Kaplan and Meier. Results: 49% of the tumors reveale d positive staining for PSA. No significant correlation between PSA and the other parameters, or the mean survival time (PSA pos.: 5.3 years, PSA neg. : :5.4 years) could be demonstrated. Conclusions: As there were no signific ant correlations between PSA and other prognostic markers, PSA detected by immunohistochemistry seems not to be helpful in prognostic evaluation of br east cancer.