Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P04626 (erbB-2)
 5,251 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Core needle biopsies (CNB) are often used for the diagnosis of breast lesions. In some breast cancer patients, e.g., those treated with preoperative chemotherapy, the CNB specimen might be the only pretreatment tissue sample available for studies of prognostic and predictive markers. Our purpose was to evaluate whether marker studies performed on CNB specimens accurately reflect the marker status of the tumor. Immunostaining for five commonly used prognostic and predictive markers was performed on both CNB and subsequent excision specimens from 56 consecutive patients who had a CNB with carcinoma followed by excision of the tumor. None of the patients received radiotherapy or chemotherapy between the CNB and the excision. Paraffin sections of the CNB and excision specimens were immunostained for bcl-2, estrogen receptor (ER), c-erbB-2, and p53. These markers were scored as positive or negative. Microvessel density (MVD) was scored as a continuous variable on sections immunostained for Factor VIII-related antigen by calculating the average number of microvessels in three 224x fields of highest tumor vascularity ("hot spots"). Immunostaining results for bcl-2, ER, c-erbB-2, and p53 on the CNB and the corresponding excision specimens were 100% concordant. Although there was significant correlation between MVD on the CNB specimens and the corresponding excisions (r = 0.507, P = 0.0002), the mean MVD on the CNB and corresponding excision specimens differed by more than 10% in 85.7% of cases, with differences ranging from 4.3 to 233.3%. MVD was higher in the CNB than in the excision specimens in 30 (61.2%) of 49 cases. In conclusion, in all of the cases studied, accurate results for the dichotomously scored markers bcl-2, ER, c-erbB-2, and p53 were obtained on CNB specimens. In contrast, in most cases, MVD, which was scored as a continuous variable, could not be reliably assessed on the CNB specimen.
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PMID:Do prognostic marker studies on core needle biopsy specimens of breast carcinoma accurately reflect the marker status of the tumor? 952 72

Estimated vascular density obtained with the aid of antibodies against endothelial cells has been claimed to be an independent prognostic indicator for invasive ductal breast carcinoma. Since 1991 most studies have counted the number of vessels with the optic microscope. We have performed immunohistochemical staining for Factor VIII on formaldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded primary invasive ductal carcinomas from 112 patients, with a minimal follow-up time of 60 months, who had received postoperative chemoradiation therapy. We have performed a manual count with a 20x objective of the vessels in the vascular hot-spot identified in a 4x field. We analysed the association of this factor with epidemiological risk factors, histopathological features, hormonal receptor status and p53 and c-erbB-2 expression and the influence on prognosis. In univariate analysis vascular density is a significant prognostic indicator in both node-negative and node-positive patients, together with staging, Baak's morphometric multiparametric index, tumour size and histological grade. However, in multivariate analysis only tumour staging and vascular density are independent prognostic factors in breast carcinoma.
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PMID:Vascular density as a prognostic indicator for invasive ductal breast carcinoma. 958 76

This study was undertaken to determine the value of angiogenesis and blood vessel invasion (BVI) using both Factor VIII-related antigen and elastica van Gieson staining in predicting 20-year relapse-free survival (RFS) and 20-year overall survival (OS) rates in Japanese patients with node-negative breast cancer. Two hundred and sixty patients were studied. We investigated nine factors, including angiogenesis (average microvessel count (AMC)), BVI, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), p53, c-erbB-2, clinical tumor size (T), histological grade, tumor necrosis, and lymphatic vessel invasion (LVI). Twenty-five patients (9.6%) had recurrence and 17 patients (6.5%) died of breast cancer. Univariate analysis showed that BVI, AMC, T, histological grade, PCNA, p53, and tumor necrosis were significantly predictive of RFS or OS. Multivariate analysis showed that AMC, BVI, and T were significant independent factors for RFS or OS. Moreover, the combination of AMC/BVI was an especially significant factor for RFS or OS (P < 0.0001, P = 0.0003, respectively). When stratified by T, a significant impact of AMC or BVI on RFS was seen in patients with T1, T2, and T3 carcinomas. Multivariate analysis in patients with T2 carcinoma showed that both AMC and BVI were significant independent factors for RFS (P = 0.0231, P = 0.0388, respectively) and OS (P = 0.0331 and P = 0.0479, respectively). AMC, BVI, and T were independent prognostic indicators. As the combined impact of AMC/BVI is especially strong, AMC/BVI is useful in selecting high-risk node-negative breast cancer patients who may be eligible to receive aggressive adjuvant chemotherapy.
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PMID:Angiogenesis and blood vessel invasion as prognostic indicators for node-negative breast cancer. 1133 42