Table 1.

Association of RANK expression in spindle shape stromal cells, not associated to the vasculature, with clinical-pathological characteristics (classic prognostic markers), local relapse, metastasis occurrence, bone metastasis occurrence, visceral metastasis occurrence, and mix metastasis occurrence in 155 patients with early invasive ductal breast cancer. Fisher’s exact test was used for the association between variables

Clinicopathological characteristics		RANK
		$n$	High expression		$p$
			n	%
Age (years)	50	42	12	28.57%	1
	$⩾50$	113	31	27.43%
Tumor size (cm)	$⩽2$	111	27	24.32%	0.1640
	$>$ 2	44	16	36.36%
ER	Negative	19	4	21.05%	0.5930
	Positive	136	39	28.68%
PR	Negative	31	7	22.58%	0.6540
	Positive	124	36	29.03%
Her2/neu	Negative	137	40	29.20%	0.1570
	Positive	18	2	11.11%
Histological grade	G1	12	4	33.33%	0.6700
	G2	89	26	29.21%
	G3	54	13	24.07%
Regional lymph nodes	Negative	106	30	28.30%	0.8500
	Positive	49	13	26.53%
Local relapse	Negative	129	36	27.91%	1
	Positive	26	7	26.92%
Metastatic occurrence	Negative	109	23	21.10%	0.0060
	Positive	46	20	43.48%
Bone metastatic occurrence	Negative	133	33	24.81%	0.0690
	Positive	22	10	45.45%
Visceral metastatic occurrence	Negative	137	37	27.01%	0.5820
	Positive	18	6	33.33%
Mix-metastatic occurrence	Negative	149	39	26.17%	0.0500
	Positive	6	4	66.67%

^*p-value 0.050. ER: estrogen receptor; PR: progesterone receptor.