Abstract
Proliferative indices were measured on a prospective series of 165 patients with stage I and II breast cancer using an immunocytochemical determination of Growth Fraction (GF) with the Ki-67 monoclonal antibody and S-phase fraction by flow cytometry. GF score ranged from 1% to 80% with a median value of 7.5% and was significantly associated with aneuploidy (p=0.01), axillary node involvement (p=0.016) and histologic grade (p=0.0001). A weak association was observed between the two markers of cell kinetics, particulary among diploid tumours. After a median follow-up of 3 years univariate analysis showed that patients with tumours with low GF had a significantly better relapse-free survival when compared to those with high GF (p=0.0027). At 3 years there was no significant difference in survival between the two groups. A multivariate analysis on relapse free survival, performed in 122 comparable patients, showed that GF was a significant independent predictive factor (p=0.04). GF is an easy and reliable method for assessing cell kinetics in breast cancer and it is correlated with prognosis.
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