An observational study of association of clinicopathological stage and Ki-67, P53, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2/neu, estrogen receptor, and progesterone receptor status in breast cancer

Abstract

Objectives: The objective was to study the association between the clinicopathological stage of breast cancer and lymph node (LN) involvement with respect to Ki-67, P53, human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2/neu), estrogen receptor (ER), and progesterone receptor (PR) status. Methods: This observational cross-sectional study, conducted in a tertiary care hospital, included 100 adult female patients with operable breast carcinoma. The histopathological investigations, including histopathological typing and immunohistochemistry (IHC) (ER, PR, HER2/neu, Ki-67, and p53), were done. For IHC, a cutoff of 10% stained cells or more was considered positive for ER, PR, p53, and HER2/neu, and a cutoff of >14% stained cells was considered positive for Ki-67 expression. The interrelation of markers with clinical stage and LN involvement was evaluated. Results: ER, PR, and HER2/neu status were positive in 56%, 42%, and 22% of cases. Ki-67 ≥14% was present in 94% of cases. P53 was positive in 14% of cases. P53 and Ki-67 showed a significant association with tumor (T), nodes (N), and metastases (M) staging. As for the IHC of axillary LN s, only Ki-67 increased expression (≥14%) showed a significant association with P = 0.01. For the clinical staging, no markers among ER, PR, HER2/neu, Ki-67, and p53 showed a significant association. Conclusion: To conclude, p53 increased mutation and Ki-67 expression hold a significant association with the increasing stage of breast cancer and axillary lymphadenopathy.

Keywords

• breast cancer
• estrogen receptor
• human epidermal growth factor receptor
• immunohistochemistry
• progesterone receptor