Prognostic importance of neuroendocrine differentiation in Japanese breast cancer patients

Purpose To evaluate the frequency and prognostic importance of neuroendocrine differentiation (NED) in Japanese breast cancer patients. Methods We used standard immunohistochemical techniques to examine 50 patients who underwent resection of breast cancer between 1988 and 1993 at the Department of S...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Surgery today (Tokyo, Japan) Japan), 2010-09, Vol.40 (9), p.831-835
Main Authors: Sawaki, Masataka, Yokoi, Kazuki, Nagasaka, Tetsuro, Watanabe, Reiko, Kagawa, Chikara, Takada, Hideki, Sato, Shigenori, Yamada, Tomohiro, Kikumori, Toyone, Imai, Tsuneo, Nakao, Akimasa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Breast Neoplasms - metabolism
Breast Neoplasms - mortality
Breast Neoplasms - pathology
CD57 Antigens - metabolism
Chromogranin A - metabolism
Disease-Free Survival
Female
Humans
Immunohistochemistry
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Middle Aged
Neuroendocrine Cells - metabolism
Neuroendocrine Cells - pathology
Original Article
Phosphopyruvate Hydratase - metabolism
Prognosis
Surgery
Surgical Oncology
Survival Rate
Synaptophysin - metabolism
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Purpose To evaluate the frequency and prognostic importance of neuroendocrine differentiation (NED) in Japanese breast cancer patients. Methods We used standard immunohistochemical techniques to examine 50 patients who underwent resection of breast cancer between 1988 and 1993 at the Department of Surgery II, Nagoya University Hospital, for NED, defined as positive reactivity for four markers: neuron-specific enolase (NSE), synaptophysin, CD57, and chromogranin A (CGA). Neuroendocrine differentiation was defined by the presence of at least one marker including CGA, CD57, and synaptophysin, or at least two markers when one was positive for NSE. Results Neuroendocrine differentiation was found in 13 (26%) of the 50 patients examined. There were no significant differences in the distribution of patients with positive or negative NED in terms of age, menopausal status, tumor size, lymph node metastasis, histological grade, ER, PgR, and HER2. We calculated the cumulative survival rates of patient groups according to NED status, and found no significant difference in overall or disease-free survival between patients with and those without NED. Conclusion Neuroendocrine differentiation was identified in a subset (26%) of Japanese breast cancer patients, but this appeared to have no relationship with established prognostic factors or patient outcome.
ISSN:0941-1291
1436-2813
DOI:10.1007/s00595-009-4179-2