Abstract
Background: Breast cancer markers are becoming increasingly important in breast cancer research due to their impact on prognosis, treatment and survival. The present retrospective study was carried out to quantify the proportion of estrogen (ER), progesterone (PR), and human epithelial receptor 2 (HER2) expressions and their association with tumour grade, age, and tumour size in breast cancer patients in Nigeria. Materials and methods: The paraffin embedded tissue sections were analysed for breast cancer markers using monoclonal antibody SP1 for ER and SP2 for PR and polyclonal antibody ErbB2 for HER2. Results: A total of 286 breast cancer paraffin wax tissue sections were analysed for ER, PR and HER2 expression. Of all the tissue samples examined, 20 (7%) were ERpositive, 6 (2.1%) were PR-positive, 11 (3.8%) were HER2-positive whereas 248 (87%) were triple-negative breast carcinoma. ER- and PR-positivity was associated with early grade I and II tumours (P 0.010-0.009) and tumour sizes of 50mm (p 0.001). HER2positivity was positively (P 0.009) associated with grade II tumours and negatively (P 0.0001) associated with grade III tumours. Triple-negative breast cancer was associated with grade III tumours (P 0.0001) and larger tumour sizes of 50mm (P 0.0001). Conclusion: A small proportion of Nigerian women with breast cancer are ER/PR-positive which are associated with less aggressive, better prognosis and benefit from endocrine therapy. An even smaller proportion of patients with aggressive tumors were HER2posivite but responsive to Herceptin treatment. Unfortunately, a very high proportion of cases were triple-negative which is associated with very aggressive tumours and no targeted treatment, which may explain the high mortality rates from breast cancer in Nigeria.
Highlights
Breast cancer is the most common neoplasia both in the developed and developing countries
The aim of this study was first to carry out retrospective investigation to study the reliability of routinely processed paraffin wax sections in the assessment of ER, PR, and human epithelial receptor 2 (HER2) in a series of breast carcinomas
Our findings revealed that a large number of breast cancer cases (87%) in Nigeria are triple-negative
Summary
Breast cancer is the most common neoplasia both in the developed and developing countries. The present retrospective study was carried out to quantify the proportion of estrogen (ER), progesterone (PR), and human epithelial receptor 2 (HER2) expressions and their association with tumour grade, age, and tumour size in breast cancer patients in Nigeria. Triple-negative breast cancer was associated with grade III tumours (P 0.0001) and larger tumour sizes of 50mm (P 0.0001). Conclusion: A small proportion of Nigerian women with breast cancer are ER/PR-positive which are associated with less aggressive, better prognosis and benefit from endocrine therapy. A very high proportion of cases were triple-negative which is associated with very aggressive tumours and no targeted treatment, which may explain the high mortality rates from breast cancer in Nigeria
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