Table 2.
Analysis of clinical, mammogram and ultrasound response data according to aromatase protein expression status in tamoxifen or letrozole treated patients
| Responses | Aromatase protein expression [n (%)] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tumor epithelial aromatase | Stromal aromatase | |||
| Negative | Positive | Negative | Positive | |
| Clinical responsea | ||||
| Letrozole only | ||||
| No | 6 (29%) | 24 (32%) | 11 (44%) | 18(26) |
| Yes | 15 (71%) | 51 (68%) | 14 (56%) | 51(74) |
| P-value | 0.7657 | 0.0984 | ||
| Tamoxifen only | ||||
| No | 12 (50%) | 37 (51%) | 13 (45%) | 34 (54%) |
| Yes | 12 (50%) | 35 (49%) | 16 (55%) | 29 (46%) |
| P-value | 0.9067 | 0.4177 | ||
| Fused | ||||
| No | 18 (40%) | 61 (41%) | 24 (44%) | 52 (39%) |
| Yes | 27 (60%) | 86 (59%) | 30 (56%) | 80 (61%) |
| P-value | 0.8587 | 0.5259 | ||
| Mammo responsea | ||||
| Letrozole only | ||||
| No | 13 (62%) | 47 (63%) | 17 (68%) | 42 (61%) |
| Yes | 8 (38%) | 28 (37%) | 8 (32%) | 27 (39%) |
| P-value | 0.9494 | 0.5297 | ||
| Tamoxifen only | ||||
| No | 19 (79%) | 54 (75%) | 23 (79%) | 48 (76%) |
| Yes | 5 (21%) | 18 (25%) | 6 (21%) | 15 (24%) |
| P-value | 0.6803 | 0.7418 | ||
| Fused | ||||
| No | 32 (71%) | 101 (69%) | 40 (74%) | 90 (68%) |
| Yes | 13 (29%) | 46 (31%) | 14 (26%) | 42 (32%) |
| P-value | 0.7604 | 0.4278 | ||
| Ultrasound responsea | ||||
| Letrozole only | ||||
| No | 12 (67%) | 39 (56%) | 16 (73%) | 34 (52%) |
| Yes | 6 (33%) | 31 (44%) | 6 (27%) | 31 (48%) |
| P-value | 0.4038 | 0.0959 | ||
| Tamoxifen only | ||||
| No | 13 (68%) | 44 (64%) | 15 (60%) | 41 (69%) |
| Yes | 6 (32%) | 25 (36%) | 10 (60%) | 18 (31%) |
| P-value | 0.7085 | 0.4016 | ||
| Fused | ||||
| No | 25 (68%) | 83 (60%) | 31 (66%) | 75 (60%) |
| Yes | 12 (32%) | 56 (40%) | 16 (34%) | 49 (40%) |
| P-value | 0.3845 | 0.5116 | ||
Response rate refers to the percentage of patients with a complete or partial response
aResponse definitions by WHO criteria have been previously reported [11]. The X2 test was applied with Fisher’s exact test if a count in any cell was less than 5