1Department of General Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. 2Department of Pathology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Bcl-2 and p53 are known to act as a regulator of apoptosis in breast cancer and we evaluated the significance of these gene expressions and correlation with prognostic factors in breast cancer.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: In order to investigate the expression of Bcl-2 and p53, we analyzed immunochemistry staining from paraffin blocks in a series of 80 women with breast cancer. Expression was then compared with the established indicators of prognosis.
RESULTS: Bcl-2 positivity was 45% and p53 was 32.2%. No relationships could be observed between bcl-2 and node status,tumor size and also between p53 and node status, differentiation,tumor size. Strong positive relationships were seen between bcl-2 and estrogen receptor (ER) (p<0.0001), progesterone receptor (PR) (p<0.001). p53 also showed relationships with ER and PR (p<0.05) Histologic (p<0.05) and nuclear grade (p<0.05) showed relationships with bcl-2 but not with p53. Inverse relationship was noted between p53 and ER, PR (p<0.05). Inverse relationship was also found between bcl-2 and p53 expression (p<0.001).
CONCLUSION: This study suggest that there may be a possibility that bcl-2 and p53 expressions can affect tumor growth and prognosis in breast cancer patients.
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