Table II.
Association of p-STAT3 (by immunohistochemistry) expression with clinicopathological parameters in ER-positive breast cancer.
| Characteristics | p-STAT3-negative in both tumour and stroma (n=436) |
p-STAT3-positive in tumour or stroma (n=174) |
P-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age at randomization, years | ||||
| Mean ± SD | 48.6±9.2 | 48.4±8.5 | 0.80 | |
| Median (range) | 49 (20–69) | 48 (27–69) | ||
| No. of involved nodes, no (%) | ||||
| 1–3 | 229 (52.5) | 95 (54.6) | 0.70 | |
| 4–10 | 153 (35.1) | 58 (33.3) | ||
| >10 | 54 (12.4) | 21 (12.1) | ||
| Tumor size, no (%) | ||||
| ≤2 cm | 133 (30.8) | 72 (41.6) | 0.01 | |
| >2 cm | 299 (69.2) | 101 (58.4) | ||
| pTx | 4 | 1 | ||
| Tumor grade, no (%) | ||||
| G1–G2 | 234 (55.9) | 103 (61.7) | 0.20 | |
| G3 | 185 (44.2) | 64 (38.3) | ||
| Gx | 17 | 7 | ||
| PR, no (%) | ||||
| PR− | 41 (9.6) | 13 (7.6) | 0.44 | |
| PR+ | 388 (90.4) | 158 (92.4) | ||
| Missing info | 7 | 3 | ||
| HER2, no (%) | ||||
| HER2− | 364 (84.5) | 152 (88.4) | 0.21 | |
| HER2+ | 67 (15.6) | 20 (11.6) | ||
| Missing info | 5 | 2 | ||
| Taxane, no (%) | ||||
| No | 131 (30.1) | 59 (33.9) | 0.35 | |
| Yes | 305 (70.0) | 115 (66.1) | ||
| Seq/combined, no (%) | ||||
| Sequential | 213 (48.9) | 104 (59.8) | 0.01 | |
| Combined | 223 (51.2) | 70 (40.2) | ||
| Median follow-up, years (95% CI) | 10.40 (10.15–10.61) | 10.45 (10.11–10.70) | 0.51 | |
| No. of deaths | 98 | 34 | ||
| No. of events (BCR, SPM, death) | 159 | 51 | ||
BCR, breast cancer recurrence; SPM, second primary malignancies; p-STAT3, phosphorylated-signal transducer and activator of transcription 3; ER, estrogen receptor.