PP 47. Advanced Breast Cancer Is Associated with Negative BCL2 Expression

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N. Salemis, G. Karanikas, N. Koronakis, E. Lagoudianakis, G. Karavitis, A Papas, K. Filis, A Manouras, G. Zografos

18:22 - 18:28h at Lanchid Room

Categories: Poster Session , Surgical Oncology

Session: Poster (P4) - Surgical Oncology

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Background
The BCL2 protein is a member of a gene family that regulates apoptosis. In many solid organ tumors, including breast cancer, positive BCL2 expression paradoxically appears to exert a tumor suppressor effect resulting in better prognosis. This study investigated the relation of BCL2 to advanced stage, estrogen and progesterone expression and its prognostic value in patients with invasive breast cancer.

Material and Methods
This study comprised of 306 cases of breast cancer. Tumor blocks from each specimen were evaluated with immunohistochemical staining for the evaluation of ER, PR and BCL2.

Result
The median age of our patients was 56±14,5 years. BCL2 positivity correlated with better histologic grade (p < 0.05), positive ER and PR expression (p < 0.05) and earlier cancer stage. Also BCL2 positivity correlated with tumor size (p <0,01). After a median follow up of 63 months BCL2 positive staining was associated with lower local recurrence. On the contrary BCL2 showed no association with all-cause mortality but when adjusted for stage, BCL2 positivity was associated with better disease free survival.

Conclusion
Our results showed that BCL2 is an independent indicator of prognosis. Further work is needed to elucidate the value of BCL2 in the stratification of breast cancer.