Table 1. Characteristics of studies used in overall analysis.
| First author | Journal | Published year | Country | Age (Median) | Follow-up Duration | Population Size | Stage | Lab Methods | Survival Indicators | Treatment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valérie Pawlowski | Clinical Cancer Research | 2000 | France | 26–90 (58) | Median: 77.6 months | 365 | N/A | rt-PCR | RFS, OS | Surgery, Adjuvant Chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, Radiotherapy: as protocols |
| Zhenhe Suo | Journal of Pathology | 2002 | N/A | 32–90 (64) | 11 years | 100 | IHC (Santa Cruz sc-283) | DFS, CSS | Surgery, Adjuvant Chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, Radiotherapy: as protocols | |
| Caroline J Witton | Journal of Pathology | 2003 | UK | N/A | N/A | 220 | N/A | IHC (H4.77.16, Neomarkers) | BCSS | Surgery, Adjuvant Chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, Radiotherapy: standard treatment |
| Laboratoire d'Oncogénétique | International Journal of Cancer | 2003 | France | 31–91 (58.2) | Median: 8.1 years | 130 | N/A | rt-PCR | RFS | N/A |
| DM Abd El-Rehim | British Journal of Cancer | 2004 | UK | 18–70 (53) | Median: 58 months | 1944 | IHC (HFR-1 antibody,NeoMarkers) | DFS, OS | N/A | |
| Nicola L.P. Barnes | Clinical Cancer Research | 2005 | UK | 39–82 (55.5) | 5 years | 129 | DCIS | IHC (Santa Cruz sc-283) | DFS | Surgery & Adjuvant radiotherapy |
| Teemu T. Junttila | Cancer Research | 2005 | Finland | N/A | Median: 10 years | 458 | IHC (HFR-1 antibody,NeoMarkers) | DFS | Surgery & Adjuvant radiotherapy, Adjuvant endocrine therapy | |
| Sam M. Wiseman | Cancer | 2005 | Canada | N/A | Median: 15 years | 242 | I–III | IHC (HFR-1 antibody,NeoMarkers) | DSS | N/A |
| ILKA B. FUCHS | Anticancer Research | 2006 | Germany | N/A | 240 months | 48 | IHC (C-18,Santa Cruz) | OS | Surgery, Neo/Adjuvant Chemotherapy, endocrine therapy: as protocols | |
| M Aubele | British Journal of Cancer | 2007 | Germany | 27–84 (66) | Median: 144 months | 193 | N/A | IHC (H4.77.16, Neomarkers) | EFS | Surgery, Adjuvant Chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, Radiotherapy: as protocols |
| Andrea Sassen | Breast Cancer Research | 2008 | Germany | 25–82 (55) | Median: 125.6 months | 278 | IHC (Cell Signaling 83B10) | DFS, OS | N/A | |
| M Aubele | British Journal of Cancer | 2008 | Germany | N/A | Median: 80 months | 426 | N/A | IHC (H4.77.16, Neomarkers) | DFS | Surgery, Adjuvant Chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, Radiotherapy: as protocols |
| Anjali Naresh | Cancer Research | 2008 | US | N/A | Median: 15.6 years | 42 | N/A | IHC (HFR-1 antibody,NeoMarkers) | DSS | Surgery, Chemotherapy, Radiotherapy, Endocrine therapy |
| Thomas Frogne | Breast Cancer Research | 2009 | Denmark | 48–74 (61) | N/A | 268 | IHC (Thermo Fisher Scientific RB-9045) | DFS, OS | Surgery & Adjuvant endocrine therapy | |
| Ann D. Thor | The American Journal of Pathology | 2009 | US | N/A | Median: 15.6 years | 923 | N/A | IHC (HFR-1 antibody,NeoMarkers) | DFS, DSS | Surgery, Chemotherapy, Radiotherapy |
| Emmet McIntyre | Breast Cancer Res Treat | 2009 | UK | 27–73 | 195 months | 100 | N/A | IHC (HFR-1 antibody) | OS | Standard protocols |
| Ling Zhang | ACTA UNIVERSITATIS MEDICINALIS NANJING (Natural Science) | 2011 | China | 22–70 (43) | N/A | 105 | I–III | IHC | DFS | Surgery & Adjuvant chemotherapy |
| Tanja Badovinac-Crnjevic | Medical Oncology | 2011 | Croatia | N/A | Median: 60 months | 181 | N/A | IHC (Abcam,clone SPM338) | DFS, OS | N/A |
| B M Syed | British Journal of Cancer | 2013 | UK | > 75 | 36 years | 575 | IHC (H4.77.16, Neomarkers) | DFS, BCSS | Surgery & Adjuvant radiotherapy, Adjuvant endocrine therapy | |
| Junichi Kurebayashi | Breast Cancer | 2013 | Japan | 24–83 (54) | Median: 38.5 months | 87 | N/A | IHC (Thermo Fisher Scientific) | RFS | Surgery, Target therapy, Adjuvant chemotherapy |
| Anna Machleidt | BMC Cancer | 2013 | Germany | 24–83 (54) | N/A | 172 | rt-PCR | EFS, OS | Surgery, Target therapy, Adjuvant chemotherapy, Endocrine therapy | |
| K. Hashimoto | Annals of Oncology | 2014 | Japan | 28–82 (56) | N/A | 75 | IHC | EFS, OS | Surgery & Adjuvant chemotherapy | |
| Saori Fujiwara | Breast Cancer | 2014 | Japan | 21–93 (59) | 120 months | 250 | N/A | rt-PCR | DFS, BCSS | Surgery, Neo/Adjuvant Chemotherapy, endocrine therapy: as protocols |
| Siti Norasikin Mohd Nafi | Oncotarget | 2014 | UK | N/A | N/A | 73 | N/A | IHC[antibodies against c-terminus HER4 (Santa Cruz), c-terminus HER4 (Neomarkers)] | OS, RFS | Neoadjuvant chemotherapy and trastuzumab treatment |
N/A: not available.