Table 2. Univariate and multivariate analysis for survival of peripheral blood PLS3 status and clinicopathological factors in breast cancer patients (n=591).

	Disease-free survival				Overall survival
	Univariate analysis		Multivariate analysis		Univariate analysis		Multivariate analysis
Variables	HR (95% CI)	P-value	HR (95% CI)	P-value	HR (95% CI)	P-value	HR (95% CI)	P-value
PLS3 in PB (high/low)	2.61 (1.46–5.04)	0.0009	2.67 (1.45–5.25)	0.0013	5.47 (2.11–18.6)	0.0002	4.34 (1.63–15.1)	0.0023
Lymph node metastasis (+/−)	5.75 (3.26–10.8)	<0.0001	4.53 (2.48–8.83)	<0.0001	4.91 (2.2–12.4)	<0.0001	4.21 (1.79–11.6)	0.0007
Tumour size (⩾2/<2cm)	2.99 (1.71–5.53)	<0.0001	2.22 (1.24–4.19)	0.0064	3.97 (1.64–11.8)	0.0014	2.87 (1.16–8.68)	0.021
ER (+/−)	0.38 (0.23–0.63)	0.0003		NS	0.26 (0.13–0.54)	0.0004	0.45 (0.18–109)	0.076
HER2 (+/−)	2.81 (1.56–4.83)	0.0009	2.05 (1.06–3.82)	0.035	1.99 (0.73–4.58)	0.16		NS
PgR (+/−)	0.41 (0.25–069)	0.0006		NS	0.24 (0.11–0.51)	0.0002		NS
Nuclear grade (3/1–2)	1.94 (1.13–3.26)	0.015		NS	0.256 (0.19–5.41)	0.0163		NS

Abbreviations: CI=confidence interval; ER=oestrogen receptor; HER2=human epidermal growth factor receptor 2; HR=hazard ratio; NS=not significant; PB=peripheral blood; PgR=progesterone receptor; PLS3=plastin3.