Correlation analysis between molecular subtypes and Nottingham Prognostic Index in breast cancer

// Hongchao Zhen 1 , Liuting Yang 2 , Li Li 1 , Junxian Yu 3 , Lei Zhao 1 , Yingying Li 4 and Qin Li 1 1 Department of Oncology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100050, China 2 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Basic Medical College, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, 030001, China 3 Department of Pharmacy, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100050, China 4 Department of Pathology and Pathophysiology, Basic Medical College, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China Correspondence to: Qin Li, email: oncologistinbj@163.com Keywords: molecular subtypes, Nottingham Prognostic Index, breast cancer, prognosis, correlation analysis Received: October 29, 2016      Accepted: May 14, 2017      Published: May 27, 2017 ABSTRACT Molecular subtypes and Nottingham Prognostic Index (NPI) are both prognostic models for breast cancer patients. We evaluated the association between molecular subtypes and NPI in 1042 breast cancer patients. The molecular subtypes indicating poorer prognosis were positively correlated to higher NPI ( r = 0.138, P = 0.001). ER positive expression and PR high expression were positively correlated with NPI ( r = 0.142, P = 0.001; r = 0.139, P = 0.001; respectively) and negatively correlated with histological grade ( r = −0.233, P 5.40 were higher in the HER2 overexpression subtype, basal-like subtype, ER-, PR low/negative expression, and Ki67 high expression groups. The excellent consistence was observed between histological grade and molecular subtypes, ER, PR, Ki67. The difference of histological grade between the HER2 positive and negative group was statistically significant. In conclusion, there was closely association between molecular subtypes and NPI in breast cancer. For further comparing the prognostic significance of molecular subtypes and NPI, survival analyses should be performed on the same population in a large-scale prospective study.