Molecular subtype analysis determines the association of advanced breast cancer in Egypt with favorable biology

Salhia, Bodour; Tapia, Coya; Ishak, Elia A; Gaber, Salwa; Berghuis, Bree; Hussain, Khateeb H; DuQuette, Rachelle A; Resau, James; Carpten, John (2011). Molecular subtype analysis determines the association of advanced breast cancer in Egypt with favorable biology. BMC women's health, 11, p. 44. London: BioMed Central 10.1186/1472-6874-11-44

[img]
Preview
Text
1472-6874-11-44.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY).

Download (269kB) | Preview

Background

Prognostic markers and molecular breast cancer subtypes reflect underlying biological tumor behavior and are important for patient management. Compared to Western countries, women in North Africa are less likely to be prognosticated and treated based on well-characterized markers such as the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and Her2. We conducted this study to determine the prevalence of breast cancer molecular subtypes in the North African country of Egypt as a measure of underlying biological characteristics driving tumor manifestations.
Methods

To determine molecular subtypes we characterized over 200 tumor specimens obtained from Egypt by performing ER, PR, Her2, CK5/6, EGFR and Ki67 immunohistochemistry.
Results

Our study demonstrated that the Luminal A subtype, associated with favorable prognosis, was found in nearly 45% of cases examined. However, the basal-like subtype, associated with poor prognosis, was found in 11% of cases. These findings are in sharp contrast to other parts of Africa in which the basal-like subtype is over-represented.
Conclusions

Egyptians appear to have favorable underlying biology, albeit having advanced disease at diagnosis. These data suggest that Egyptians would largely profit from early detection of their disease. Intervention at the public health level, including education on the benefits of early detection is necessary and would likely have tremendous impact on breast cancer outcome in Egypt.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Service Sector > Institute of Pathology

UniBE Contributor:

Tapia, Coya

ISSN:

1472-6874

Publisher:

BioMed Central

Language:

English

Submitter:

Factscience Import

Date Deposited:

04 Oct 2013 14:18

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:04

Publisher DOI:

10.1186/1472-6874-11-44

PubMed ID:

21961708

Web of Science ID:

000208607800044

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.5473

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/5473 (FactScience: 210220)

Actions (login required)

Edit item Edit item
Provide Feedback