Table 2.
Relationship between the clinicopathological characteristics and the expression of cell-cycle markers in core biopsy specimens
| Feature (No. of tumors) | Ki-67 mean | MCM2 mean | Cyclin A mean | PHH3 mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical T categories | ||||
| T1 (5) | 70.00 | 70.00 | 43.00 | 16.00 |
| T2 (39) | 48.52 | 55.38 | 24.59 | 8.38 |
| T3 (5) | 46.00 | 50.00 | 20.00 | 6.00 |
| T4 (12) | 31.66 | 16.67 | 16.67 | 8.34 |
| p value | 0.2157 | 0.0225 | 0.0830 | 0.0468 |
| Clinical N categories | ||||
| N0 (21) | 42.86 | 49.29 | 21.52 | 8.43 |
| N1–3 (31) | 53.77 | 57.26 | 28.13 | 9.19 |
| p value | 0.1366 | 0.2578 | 0.2135 | 0.3739 |
| Histology * | ||||
| IDC (48) | 50.98 | 55.00 | 26.39 | 9.17 |
| other (4) | 30.00 | 42.50 | 14.25 | 5.50 |
| Nuclear grade | ||||
| II (20) | 32.60 | 38.35 | 17.20 | 6.85 |
| III (32) | 59.84 | 63.91 | 30.63 | 10.63 |
| p value | <0.0001 | <0.0001 | 0.0003 | 0.0424 |
| ER status | ||||
| positive (33) | 37.33 | 45.61 | 19.97 | 7.64 |
| negative (19) | 70.26 | 68.68 | 35.00 | 11.05 |
| p value | <0.0001 | 0.0003 | 0.0011 | 0.0544 |
| PR status | ||||
| positive (30) | 36.90 | 46.83 | 19.47 | 7.83 |
| negative (22) | 66.36 | 66.86 | 33.64 | 10.32 |
| p value | <0.0001 | 0.0089 | 0.0013 | 0.1691 |
| Her2 status | ||||
| positive (21) | 47.86 | 50.00 | 24.52 | 8.67 |
| negative (31) | 50.39 | 56.77 | 26.09 | 9.03 |
| p value | 0.8245 | 0.2500 | 0.9558 | 0.7958 |
| Triple negativity | ||||
| no (40) | 41.30 | 47.63 | 12.72 | 7.55 |
| yes (12) | 76.25 | 75.42 | 37.92 | 13.34 |
| p value | <0.0001 | <0.0001 | 0.0046 | 0.0053 |
| Biological subtype | ||||
| Luminal A (7) | 19.57 | 37.14 | 8.43 | 4.71 |
| Lum.B-prolif. (12) | 42.50 | 49.58 | 24.58 | 7.25 |
| Lum.B-Her2 + (15) | 41.66 | 48.00 | 21.00 | 9.13 |
| Her2-positive (6) | 63.33 | 55.00 | 33.33 | 7.50 |
| Triple negative(12) | 76.25 | 75.42 | 37.92 | 13.34 |
| p value | <0.0001 | 0.0026 | 0.0004 | 0.0119 |
| Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL)# | ||||
| TIL ≤ 1% (18) | 38.33 | 46.67 | 21.61 | 7.61 |
| TIL 1–20% (19) | 57.37 | 53.95 | 28.42 | 10.37 |
| TIL >20% (6) | 60.00 | 58.33 | 34.17 | 7.17 |
| p value | 0.0402 | 0.9676 | 0.4744 | 0.9970 |
Underlined: statistically significant difference
*due to low case numbers and statistical power we did not perform a statistical comparison
# missing in 9 patients