Open Collections

UBC Faculty Research and Publications

Progesterone receptor is a significant factor associated with clinical outcomes and effect of adjuvant tamoxifen therapy in breast cancer patients Liu, Shuzhen; Chia, Stephen; Mehl, Erika; Leung, Samuel; Cheang, Maggie Chong U.; Nielsen, Torsten

Abstract

Purpose: Estrogen receptor status in breast cancer is associated with response to hormonal therapy and clinical outcome. The additional value of progesterone receptor (PR) has remained controversial. We examine the value of PR for prognosis and response to tamoxifen on a population-based series of 4,046 invasive early stage breast cancer patients. Methods: Clinical information for age at diagnosis, stage, pathology, treatment and outcome was assembled for the study cohort; the median follow-up was 12.4 years. PR status was determined by immunohistochemistry using a rabbit monoclonal antibody on tissue microarrays built from breast tumor surgical excisions. Survival analyses, Kaplan-Meier functions and Cox proportional hazards regression models were applied to assess the associations between PR and breast cancer specific survival. Results: Progesterone receptor was positive in 51% of all cases and 67% of estrogen receptor positive (ER+) cases. Survival analyses for both the whole cohort and ER+ cases given tamoxifen therapy showed that patients with PR+ tumors had 24% higher relative probability for breast cancer specific survival as compared to PR- patients, adjusted for ER, HER2, age at diagnosis, grade, tumor size, lymph node status and lymphovascular invasion covariates. Higher PR expression showed stronger association with patient survival. Log-likelihood ratio tests of multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models demonstrated that PR was an independent statistically significant factor for breast cancer specific survival in both the whole cohort and among ER+ cases treated with tamoxifen. Conclusion: PR adds significant prognostic value in breast cancer beyond that obtained with estrogen receptor alone.

Item Metadata

Title
Progesterone receptor is a significant factor associated with clinical outcomes and effect of adjuvant tamoxifen therapy in breast cancer patients
Creator
Liu, Shuzhen; Chia, Stephen; Mehl, Erika; Leung, Samuel; Cheang, Maggie Chong U.; Nielsen, Torsten
Contributor
Genetic Pathology Evaluation Centre; Vancouver Prostate Centre
Publisher
Springer
Date Issued
2009-02-10
Description
Purpose: Estrogen receptor status in breast cancer is associated with response to hormonal therapy and clinical outcome. The additional value of progesterone receptor (PR) has remained controversial. We examine the value of PR for prognosis and response to tamoxifen on a population-based series of 4,046 invasive early stage breast cancer patients. Methods: Clinical information for age at diagnosis, stage, pathology, treatment and outcome was assembled for the study cohort; the median follow-up was 12.4 years. PR status was determined by immunohistochemistry using a rabbit monoclonal antibody on tissue microarrays built from breast tumor surgical excisions. Survival analyses, Kaplan-Meier functions and Cox proportional hazards regression models were applied to assess the associations between PR and breast cancer specific survival. Results: Progesterone receptor was positive in 51% of all cases and 67% of estrogen receptor positive (ER+) cases. Survival analyses for both the whole cohort and ER+ cases given tamoxifen therapy showed that patients with PR+ tumors had 24% higher relative probability for breast cancer specific survival as compared to PR- patients, adjusted for ER, HER2, age at diagnosis, grade, tumor size, lymph node status and lymphovascular invasion covariates. Higher PR expression showed stronger association with patient survival. Log-likelihood ratio tests of multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models demonstrated that PR was an independent statistically significant factor for breast cancer specific survival in both the whole cohort and among ER+ cases treated with tamoxifen. Conclusion: PR adds significant prognostic value in breast cancer beyond that obtained with estrogen receptor alone.
Subject
progesterone receptor; breast cancer; prognosis; survival analysis; hormonal therapy
Genre
Article; Postprint
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2021-06-15
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0398418
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/78689
Affiliation
Medicine, Faculty of; Non UBC; Medicine, Department of; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Department of
Citation
Liu S, Chia SK, Mehl E, Leung S, Rajput A, Cheang MC, Nielsen TO. Progesterone receptor is a significant factor associated with clinical outcomes and effect of adjuvant tamoxifen therapy in breast cancer patients. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2010 Jan;119(1):53-61.
Publisher DOI
10.1007/s10549-009-0318-0
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty; Researcher; Graduate
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

Item Media

Item Citations and Data

Rights

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International