Glutathione S-Transferase-pi Expression in Prechemotherapy and Postchemotherapy Tumor Samples from Patients with Locally Advanced Breast Carcinomas

1524-4741

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Medicine

Abstract: Early local disease recurrence and distant metastasis remain major problems in the management of locally advanced breast carcinoma (LABC). Glutathione S-transferase of the pi class (GST-pi) has been implicated as a potential prognostic predictor for breast carcinomas, and its expression has been reported in 40–70% of untreated human primary breast cancers.We examined GST-pi expression by immunohistochemis-try technique in 45 prechemotherapy biopsy samples and 26 postchemotherapy resection samples from patients with LABC and evaluated its relationship with response to treatment, disease recurrence, and other known prognostic factors. GST-pi expression was present in 56% and 58% of prechemotherapy and postchemotherapy samples, respectively. Of 26 postchemotherapy tumor samples, 15 cases showed positive GST-pi staining; these 15 patients had shorter overall survival times compared with the 11 patients whose tissue samples showed negative staining (p = 0.053). Eight cases showed a marked increase (more than double) of GST-pi expression from prechemotherapy samples to postchemotherapy samples, however, the increase did not correlate with survival time, response rate, or relapse rate. Our findings suggest that evaluation of GST-pi expression after induction chemotherapy for LABC may allow selection of patients who might benefit from different chemotherapeutic regimens or adjuvant chemotherapy.?

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