Expression of retinoblastoma protein in breast cancer metastases to sentinel nodes: evaluation of its role as a marker for the presence of metastases in non-sentinel axillary nodes, and comparison to p16INK4a.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of retinoblastoma protein (pRb), alone and in combination with p16, as a predictive marker for metastases in non-sentinel nodes in cases where the sentinel node showed metastatic breast carcinoma. Paraffin blocks of lymph nodes from 48 patients with metastatic breast carcinoma were immunostained with a monoclonal antibody to retinoblastoma protein (PharMingen). Results were compared with known prognostic parameters of the primary tumor, estrogen and progesterone receptor status, proliferation index, and p16 (DAKO) expression.

Epidermal growth factor receptor status in breast cancer metastases to the central nervous system. Comparison with HER-2/neu status.

Context: The development of drug therapies (ZD1839) targeting epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) offers a pragmatic reason for exploring expression of EGFR in breast cancer, particularly metastatic breast cancer. There is a reported synergistic relationship between trastuzumab and ZD1839 therapy in patients with breast cancer. Although EGFR is the preferred dimerization partner for HER-2, it is unclear whether expression of these 2 interrelated receptors in a given patient with breast cancer would be parallel or mutually exclusive.