Open Access

Effect of Ki-67 assessment in the distribution of breast cancer subtypes: Evaluation in a cohort of Latin American patients

  • Authors:
    • Alejandro Yábar
    • Rosa Meléndez
    • Silvia Muñoz
    • Hugo Deneo
    • Jimena Freire
    • Viviana Domínguez
    • Roberto M. Carrasco‑Navarro
    • Maria E. Diaz
    • Raúl E. Velarde-López
  • View Affiliations

  • Published online on: March 8, 2017     https://doi.org/10.3892/mco.2017.1185
  • Pages: 503-509
  • Copyright: © Yábar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Breast cancer (BC) is a heterogeneous disease composed of four main subtypes with distinct clinical and epidemiological features. Although several reports have described the distribution of BC subtypes in Latin America, the majority of them have not included the cellular marker, Ki-67, in the immunohistochemical (IHC) panel. The aim of the present study was to describe the distribution of BC subtypes in a cohort of Latin American women using an IHC panel with Ki-67. A prospective cohort of 580 patients in three centers of Peru (the Hospital Nacional Edgardo Rebagliatti Martins, the Hospital Nacional Guillermo Almenara Irigoyen, the Hospital Nacional Alberto Sabogal, Lima) and one in Uruguay (Instituto Nacional del Cáncer, Montevideo) were evaluated. BC phenotypes were classified according to an IHC panel: Estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PgR), HER2 and Ki-67. Silver in situ hybridization was used when the HER2 status, as determined by IHC, was equivocal. The associations between the BC phenotypes and their clinicopathological features were evaluated. ER was positive in 65% of the cases (n=377), and PgR in 50% (n=203). In total, 79.1% (n=459) were HER2-negative, 19.8% (n=115) were HER2-positive and 1% (n=6) had an equivocal status. With respect to Ki-67, 44.7% of the patients exhibited staining in >14% of the tumor cells (n=259). The distribution of subtypes was as follows: Luminal A, 31.9% (n=183); luminal B, 35% (n=201); HER2, 12.1% (n=70); and triple-negative, 20.9% (n=120). When Ki-67 was not included in the panel, the frequency of luminal A was 41.1% and luminal B, 25.8% (9.2% of the cases were misclassified). Ki-67 was most highly expressed in triple-negative and HER2 tumors. Inclusion of Ki-67 in the IHC panel to assign subtypes revealed a higher frequency of luminal B tumors than was reported previously for Latin American women with BC, whereas the distribution of triple-negative and HER2 tumors were similar to that previously reported. In conclusion, these results demonstrated that excluding Ki-67 from the panel of IHC markers may lead to an underestimation of the rates of luminal B tumors.
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April-2017
Volume 6 Issue 4

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Spandidos Publications style
Yábar A, Meléndez R, Muñoz S, Deneo H, Freire J, Domínguez V, Carrasco‑Navarro RM, Diaz ME and Velarde-López RE: Effect of Ki-67 assessment in the distribution of breast cancer subtypes: Evaluation in a cohort of Latin American patients. Mol Clin Oncol 6: 503-509, 2017.
APA
Yábar, A., Meléndez, R., Muñoz, S., Deneo, H., Freire, J., Domínguez, V. ... Velarde-López, R.E. (2017). Effect of Ki-67 assessment in the distribution of breast cancer subtypes: Evaluation in a cohort of Latin American patients. Molecular and Clinical Oncology, 6, 503-509. https://doi.org/10.3892/mco.2017.1185
MLA
Yábar, A., Meléndez, R., Muñoz, S., Deneo, H., Freire, J., Domínguez, V., Carrasco‑Navarro, R. M., Diaz, M. E., Velarde-López, R. E."Effect of Ki-67 assessment in the distribution of breast cancer subtypes: Evaluation in a cohort of Latin American patients". Molecular and Clinical Oncology 6.4 (2017): 503-509.
Chicago
Yábar, A., Meléndez, R., Muñoz, S., Deneo, H., Freire, J., Domínguez, V., Carrasco‑Navarro, R. M., Diaz, M. E., Velarde-López, R. E."Effect of Ki-67 assessment in the distribution of breast cancer subtypes: Evaluation in a cohort of Latin American patients". Molecular and Clinical Oncology 6, no. 4 (2017): 503-509. https://doi.org/10.3892/mco.2017.1185