MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 53 paired tissue samples from breast cancer patients were frozen-sectioned to characterize the tumour and normal tissues. Only tissues with 80% tumour cells were used in this study. For confirmation, Q-PCR was used to determine the HER-2/neu DNA amplification.

RESULTS: We found 20/53 (37.7%) of the tumour tissues to be positive for HER-2/neu protein overexpression using IHC. Out of these twenty, only 9/53 (17%) cases were in agreement with the Q-PCR results. The concordance rate between IHC and Q-PCR was 79.3%. Approximately 20.7% of positive IHC cases showed no HER-2/neu gene amplification using Q-PCR.

METHODS: In this population-based case series, we evaluated breast cancer risk factors in relation to 10-year all-cause mortality (ACM) and 5-year recurrence by molecular subtype among 3012 women with invasive breast cancer in Sarawak, Malaysia. A total of 579 deaths and 314 recurrence events occurred during a median follow-up period of ~ 24 months. Subtypes (luminal A-like, luminal B-like, HER2-enriched, triple-negative) were defined using immunohistochemical markers for hormone receptors and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) in conjunction with histologic grade. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the associations between risk factors and ACM/recurrence were estimated in subtype-specific Cox regression models.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the expression of DDR1 and DVL1 and their association with histological type, grading and hormonal status of IDC and ILC.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross sectional study was conducted on IDC and ILC breast tumours. Tumours were immunohistochemically stained for (DDR1) and (DVL1) as well as estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and C-erbB2 receptor. Demographic data including age and ethnicity were obtained from patient records.

RESULTS: A total of 51 cases (30 IDCs and 21 ILCs) were assessed. DDR1 and DVL1 expression was not significantly associated with histological type (p=0.57 and p=0.66 respectively). There was no association between DDR1 and DVL1 expression and tumour grade (p=0.32 and p=1.00 respectively), ER (p=0.62 and 0.50 respectively), PR (p=0.38 and p=0.63 respectively) and C-erbB2 expression (p=0.19 and p=0.33 respectively) in IDC. There was no association between DDR1 and DVL1 expression and tumour grade (p=0.52 and p=0.33 respectively), ER (p=0.06 and p=0.76 respectively), PR (p=0.61 and p=0.43 respectively) and C-erbB2 expression (p=0.58 and p=0.76 respectively) in ILC.

MATERIALS AND METHOD: We evaluated cytoplasmic expression of MMP-13 based on staining index using immunohistochemistry (IHC) in epithelial cells, stromal fibroblasts of IDC (n=90) and benign epithelial breast (n=90) lesions. Correlation between IHC and tumor size, lymph node status, distance metastasis, estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and Her-2/neu was assessed.

RESULTS: MMP-13 expression was 45% and 38.8% in malignant epithelial cells and peritumoral fibroblasts, respectively. Only low level of MMP-13 expression was seen in benign breast lesions (8.8% in epithelial component and 2.2% in stromal fibroblasts), while high level of MMP-13 expression was noted in malignant tumors, mainly grade II or III. Cytoplasmic MMP-13 expressions in epithelial tumor cells was correlated significantly with peritumoral fibroblasts. MMP-13 expression was directly correlated with distant metastasis and tumor stage in epithelial tumoral cells and was inversely correlated with progesterone expression in both tumoral and stromal cells.

METHODS AND MATERIALS: Patients with T3-4, N2 M0 breast cancer diagnosed between January 2005 and December 2008 and who received at least one cycle of neoadjuvant chemotherapy were eligible for this study. Thirty-four patients were identified from the Chemotherapy Daycare Records and their medical records were reviewed retrospectively. The neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimen administered was at the discretion of the treating oncologist. Breast tumour size and nodal status was assessed at diagnosis, at each cycle and before surgery.

RESULTS: All 34 patients had invasive ductal cancer. The median age was 52 years (range 27-69). 65% had T4 disease and 76% were clinically lymph node positive at diagnosis. The median size of the breast tumour at presentation was 80 mm (range 42-200 mm). Estrogen and progesterone receptor positivity was seen in less than 40% and HER2 positivity, by immunohistochemistry, in 27%. The majority (85%) of patients had anthracycline based chemotherapy, without taxanes. The overall response rate (clinical CR+PR) was 67.6% and pathological complete responses were apparent in two (5.9%). 17.6% of patients defaulted part of their planned treatment. Recurrent disease was seen in 44.1% and the median time to relapse was 11.3 months. The three year disease free and overall survival rates were 52.5% and 58% respectively.

METHODS: Clinicopathological data were retrieved from the archived formal pathology reports for surgical specimens diagnosed as invasive ductal carcinoma, NOS. Microvessels were immunohistochemically stained with anti-CD34 antibody and quantified as microvessel density.

RESULTS: At least 50% of 94 cases of invasive breast ductal carcinoma in the study were advanced stage. The majority had poor prognosis factors such as tumor size larger than 50mm (48.9%), positive lymph node metastasis (60.6%), and tumor grade III (52.1%). Higher percentages of estrogen and progesterone receptor negative cases were recorded (46.8% and 46.8% respectively). Her-2 overexpression cases and triple negative breast cancers constituted 24.5% and 22.3% respectively. Significantly higher microvessel density was observed in the younger patient age group (p=0.012). There were no significant associations between microvessel density and other clinicopathological factors (p>0.05).

METHOD: The prognostic effect of PR status was based on the analysis of data from 45,088 European patients with breast cancer from 49 studies in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the hazard ratio for PR status. Data from a New Zealand study of 11,365 patients with early invasive breast cancer were used for external validation. Model calibration and discrimination were used to test the model performance.

RESULTS: Having a PR-positive tumour was associated with a 23% and 28% lower risk of dying from breast cancer for women with oestrogen receptor (ER)-negative and ER-positive breast cancer, respectively. The area under the ROC curve increased with the addition of PR status from 0.807 to 0.809 for patients with ER-negative tumours (p = 0.023) and from 0.898 to 0.902 for patients with ER-positive tumours (p = 2.3 × 10-6) in the New Zealand cohort. Model calibration was modest with 940 observed deaths compared to 1151 predicted.

Methods: a total of 53 cases of endometrioid type of EC were selected within a six-year period comprising of 22 cases of grade 1, 25 cases of grade 2 and six cases of grade 3 carcinoma. The selected whole tumour tissue sections were immune-stained with HER2 antibody. The scoring was semi-quantitatively analyzed based on 2013 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)/College of American Pathologists (CAPs) guidelines for the scoring of HER2 in breast cancer.

Results: all cases regardless of grades of endometrioid carcinoma showed negative expression of HER2 (score 0).