Prognostic role of c-met tyrosine kinase receptor expression in breast carcinoma

Abstract

10552 Background: Hepatocyte growth factor is a pleotropic growth factor that regulates cell proliferation, survival, tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. Its biological effects are mediated through interaction with its receptor: c-met protein.In this study, we evaluated c-met expression in the homogenous group of 99 patients diagnosed with stage II ductal breast carcinomas (G2, G3). We analyzed 5 and 10-years overall (OS) and disease free survival (DFS). Methods: Microscopic studies were performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor tissue, obtained during surgery and stained routinely with haematoxylin and eosin. Expression of c-met was evaluated using a standard immunoperoxidase technique and percentage of cells with protein expression was counted. Survival was estimated using Kaplan-Meier method. Results: The expression of c-met was found in 37 (37.37%) tumors, with the strong expression of c-met observed only in 7 (7.07%) specimens. The 5-year DFS in patients with overexpression of c-met was statistically significantly worse (p =0.00493) compared with the group with low or no expression (recurrent rates: 57.14% vs 20.65%). Also with a time horizon of 10 years, high values of c-met expression were associated with the higher rate of recurrences (71.43% vs 30.77%, p = 0.01351). The 5-years OS rate in patients with c-met overexpression was 71.43% compared with 84.78% in the group with low or no expression, but this result did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.30345). Comparable tendency was seen in 10-years OS, which was 42.86% in patients with overexpression and 73.63% with low or no expression (p = 0.06154). Conclusions: The results of the study suggest that c-met overexpression is associated with shorter disease-free survival and it may be a useful prognostic indicator of more aggressive disease in patients with breast carcinoma. No significant financial relationships to disclose.