Premium
Lack of association between tumor necrosis and hsp‐27 expression in primary breast cancer
Author(s) -
Storm F. Kristian,
Mahvi David M.,
Gilchrist Kennedy W.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of surgical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.201
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1096-9098
pISSN - 0022-4790
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9098(199601)61:1<14::aid-jso4>3.0.co;2-v
Subject(s) - heat shock protein , necrosis , medicine , immunohistochemistry , breast cancer , pathology , tumor necrosis factor alpha , disease , apoptosis , cancer , cancer research , oncology , biology , gene , biochemistry
Overexpression of heat shock protein 27 (hsp‐27) is associated with reduced disease‐free survival in early stage breast cancer. Histopathologic evidence of confluent necrosis within primary infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) is similarly an indication of poor prognosis. We postulated that IDC evidencing confluent tumor necrosis (TN) might overexpress this protein, which would help explain why hsp‐27 is associated with higher‐risk cancers. To test this hypothesis, presence of TN (as opposed to individual cell apoptosis) and of hsp‐27 expression by immunohistochemistry were evaluated independently in 48 specimens of IDC. Nineteen (40%) overexpressed hsp‐27 and 10 (21%) displayed necrosis. IDCs with areas of TN are less likely to overexpress hsp‐27, suggesting a lack of association between these histoprognostic variables. This negative correlation, however, supports hsp‐27 as an independent predictor of high‐risk disease. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.