Abstract:

Objective

To investigate the difference and similarity of HER2 and hormone receptor status between first and second tumors of bilateral primary breast cancer (BPBC), and to study their association with prognosis.

Method

Medical records of BPBC 565 patients treated at the Tianjin Cancer Hospital during the period of January 1961 to December 2007 were retrospectively reviewed. BPBC patients constituted 2.09% of breast cancer patients in this period, and synchronous BPBC (198 cases,1ess than 6 months) constituted 35.04% of the total BPBC. The expression of estrogen receptor(ER),progesterone receptor(PR),HER-2 were detected with immunohistochemistry. Chi square test (crosstabs of SPSS14.0) was used to find if there was difference in the ratio of coincidence between synchronous and asynchronous bilateral breast cancer, and difference in positive rate of ER, PR and HER-2 between the first and second cancer. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis of SPSS14.0 was used to study the association of ER, PR and HER-2 with prognosis.

Result

The ER and PR levels of two cancers of synchronous BPBC was higher than those of asynchronous BPBC(ER:χ² =5.30,P=0.02; PR:χ² =15.88,P =0.00). There was no different in the state of ER,PR,HER-2(ER:χ² =2.02,P =0.16;PR:χ² =0.86,P =0.35;HER-2:χ² =0.70,P=0.79). The ER and HER-2 expression status of both sides of BPBC were significantly correlated with prognosis and survival rate(ER:P =0.03. HER-2 P =0.03).

Conclusion

The first cancer and the second cancer of BPBC have resemblance hormone receptor and HER-2 state. Both sides of synchronous BPBC have higher concordance in the expressions of ER and PR than asynchronous BPBC. Detecting hormone receptor status and HER-2 of both sides of BPBC is of guiding significance.

Key words: Bilateral breast carcinoma, ER, PR, HER-2