Clinical significance of basal-like breast cancer in Chinese women in Heilongjiang province.

Background: Our objective was to clarify the clinical and biological characteristics of basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) and non-basal-like breast cancer (TN3BKE) in Heilongjiang.

Methods: We examined, by immunohistochemistry, expression of biological markers cytokeratin (CK) 5/6 and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and B cell specific moloney murine leukemia virus integration site 1( Bmi-1) in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). We studied the correlation between BLBC and several factors related to tumor progression, along with its prognostic value.

Results: In the 229 cases of operable TNBC, BLBC was detected in 178 (77.7%) and TN3BKE- in 51 (22.2%). There was no significant difference in clinicopathological factors between them, However, BLBC was significantly associated with Bmi-1 expression (P=0.000) and shorter disease-free survival (DFS) (P = 0.045) and overall survival (OS) (P=0.041).

Conclusions: Compared with the non-basal group, patients with BLBC have a high expression of Bmi-1 and a poor prognosis.