Fig. 1.

BRE expression predicts DFS in breast cancer. a BRE expression was gradually distributed among 229 breast cancer patients. No significant differences were observed between radiotherapy- and non-radiotherapy-treated patients. BRE expression was measured by QPCR and normalized with the housekeeping gene PBGD by calculating the ΔCt. Data shown are mean centered. Expression levels between radiotherapy-treated and non-treated patients did not differ significantly (p = 0.25 based on student’s t test). b For Kaplan–Meier analyses, the total cohort was divided into two equally sized groups based on BRE expression (high: solid line; low: dashed line, as indicated). BRE expression has opposing prognostic impact in non-radiotherapy-treated (no RT: upper panel) and radiotherapy-treated (RT: lower panel) patients. In non-radiotherapy-treated patients, the 5-year DFS was 86.6 ± 6.2 % and 75.5 ± 8.7 % for low and high BRE expression, respectively (HR = 2.59, CI = 1.00–6.75, p = 0.05). In radiotherapy-treated patients, the 5-year DFS was 60.2 ± 5.5 % and 78.3 ± 4.5 % for low and high BRE expression, respectively (HR = 0.47, CI = 0.28–0.78, p = 0.004). Patient numbers included in the analyses are indicated in brackets. p values, HR’s and CI’s were calculated by the logrank method. Subdividing the cohort into three groups based on BRE expression obtained comparable results (data not shown)