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Bcl‐2 expression is associated with lymph node metastasis in human ductal breast carcinoma
Author(s) -
Sierra Angels,
Lloveras Belen,
Castellsagué Xavier,
Moreno Loli,
GarcíaRamirez Marta,
Fabra Angels
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.2910600108
Subject(s) - ductal carcinoma , immunohistochemistry , lymph node , breast cancer , metastasis , pathology , breast carcinoma , odds ratio , medicine , mammary gland , carcinoma , cancer , oncology
The Bcl‐2 proto‐oncogene product blocks apoptosis. We retrospectively studied Bcl‐2 expression in 124 primary tumors from patients diagnosed with T 1 (2 cm or less) breast carcinoma with (T 1 N 1 ) or without (T 1 N 0 ) lymph‐node metastasis. Bcl‐2 protein was detected by immunohistochemistry on paraffinembedded tissue sections. Multivariate logistic regression modeling was used to estimate prevalence odds ratios for lymphnode metastasis. Bcl‐2 was widely expressed among T 1 tumors showing a strong positive relationship with estrogen (F.R)‐ and progesterone (PR)‐receptor‐positive tumors. However, a significant inverse correlation was seen between Bcl‐2 expression and histological grade, Bcl‐2 being absent in the majority of Tl undifferentiated tumors (grade‐Ill carcinomas). Furthermore, Bcl‐2 was more frequently expressed in T 1 N 1 cases (72.2%) than in T 1 N 0 specimens (45.7%). The odds for lymph‐node metastasis in the Bcl‐2‐positive group was 3.6 times larger than that in the Bcl‐2‐negative group. The co‐expression of PR significantly modified the effect of Bcl‐2 on the odds for lymph‐node metastasis, suggesting the existence of a synergistic interaction between the 2 parameters. We studied the percentage of dead cells in primary tumors by in situ DNA fragmentation (FDNA), and found an inverse correlation between Bcl‐2 expression and FDNA. This supported the hypothesis that Bcl‐2 extends cell survival. In conclusion, our study provides evidence that Bcl‐2 expression is involved in breast‐cancer progression, at least in a subset of well‐differentiated and PR‐positive tumors. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.