Prognostic significance of HER-2 oncoprotein expression in breast cancer: a 30-year follow-up.

PURPOSETo study retrospectively the long-term prognostic significance of HER-2 oncoprotein expression in breast cancer (BC).PATIENTS AND METHODSTwo hundred nine consecutive female patients with invasive operable BC from a defined urban population were observed for a median of 30 years. Tissue expression of HER-2 oncoprotein was demonstrated by using an immunoperoxidase procedure.RESULTSFifty-five (26%) patients had cancer and a positive HER-2 oncoprotein stain reaction. They had significantly worse 10- and 25-year survival rates than those patients who had a negative stain reaction in their cancer (31% v 48% and 31% v 39%, respectively; P = .004). HER-2 expression was also associated with a poorer survival among patients who had axillary nodal metastases (P = .003; n = 104), but not among those patients who did not have metastases. HER-2 expression was related to the ductal histologic type, poor histologic grade, and high mitotic count, but not to tumor size, axillary nodal status, DNA ploidy, or S-phase ...