Evaluation of nm23,C-erbB-2 and p53 Gene Expressions in Multivariable Analysis of Breast Cancer Prognosis

ObjectiveTo explore the protein expression of nm23,C-erbB-2 and p53 genes (3 oncogenes) in breast cancer(BC) tissues and its relation to the clinico-pathological parameters and prognosis.Expressions of nm23 , C-erbB-2 and p53 in paraffin-fixed tissue sections collected from 157 patients with BC were detected by S-P immunohistochemical staining, Kaplan-Meier method and multivariable Cox proportional hazard model were used to analyze the relationship between expressions of these 3 proteins and patient prognosis.①The expression rate of nm23 protein was 58.0%,relating with tumor size,grade of tumor, node metastasis (TNM),the status of involved axillary lymph nodes and distant metastasis;the expression rate of C-erbB-2 protein was 40.8%,it was correlated to patient age,menstruation ,tumor size,TNM ,and status of involved axillary lymph nodes ; whereas rate of p53 protein was 42.7%. its positive expression was associated with TNM, the status of axillary lymph nodes and distant metastasis. ②The positive expression of nm23 was negatively correlated with that of C-erbB-2 protein and positively correlated with that of p53 protein;the positive expression of C-erbB-2 was negatively correlated to that of p53 protein. ③Survival analysis with Kaplan-Meier method showed that the survival rate of patients in nm23 positive group was higher than that in nm23 negative group; but the survival rate of patients in C-erbB-2 positive group was lower than that in C-erbB-2 negative group; while the survival rate of patients in p53 positive group was higher than that in p53 negative group. ④Multivariable Cox regression analysis revealed that the expression of nm23 / C-erbB-2 and TNM were three important and independent prognostic factors for BC ; the hazard ratios of nm23,C-erbB-2 expression and TNM were 0.395,2.009, and 1.446 , respectively.[Conclusion]The expression of nm23/C-erbB-2 and TNM serve as independent prognostic indices of BC. Detection of nm23 and C-erbB-2 would be helpful in screening the highly recurrent cases with risk of metastasis for further clinical comprehensive therapy.