Table 3.

The comparison of biomarker expression profiles in the breast PTs and ALN metastases presenting a total of positive and negative cases among PTs as well as positive and negative cases among ALN metastases.

Biomarker	Primary tumor	ALN metastases	p-value*
Ki-67
Positive rate (%)	17/43 (39.5)	17/43 (39.5)
Negative rate (%)	26/43 (60.5)	26/43 (60.5)	1
ER α
Positive rate (%)	36/47 (76.6)	38/47 (80.8)
Negative rate (%)	11/47 (23.4)	9/47 (19.1)	0.8
PR
Positive rate (%)	18/44 (40.9)	22/44 (50)
Negative rate (%)	25/44 (56.8)	22/44 (50)	0.58
HER2**
Positive rate (%)	7/49 (14.3)	5/49 (10.2)
Negative rate (%)	36/49 (73.5)	39/49 (79.6)	0.72
E-cadherin
Positive rate (%)	23/23 (100)	11/23 (47.8)
Negative rate (%)	0/23 (0)	12/23 (52.2)	0.0002
Cyclin D1
Positive rate (%)	35/44 (79.5)	38/44 (86.4)
Negative rate (%)	9/44 (20.5)	6/44 (13.6)	0.57
Bcl-2
Positive rate (%)	28/42 (66.7)	31/42 (73.8)
Negative rate (%)	14/42 (33.3)	11/42 (26.2)	0.63
GCDFP-15
Positive rate (%)	31/50 (62)	31/50 (62)
Negative rate (%)	19/50 (38)	19/50 (38)	1
PD-L1
Positive rate (%)	3/22 (13.6)	2/22 (0.1)
Negative rate (%)	19/22 (86.4)	20/22 (90.9)	1
Snail+Slug
Positive rate (%)	19/21 (90.5)	20/21 (95.2)
Negative rate (%)	2/21 (9.5)	1/21 (4.8)	1
PRL-3
Positive rate (%)	16/21 (76.2)	14/21 (66.7)
Negative rate (%)	5/21 (23.8)	7/21 (33.3)	0.73

*The analysis of the difference in biomarker expression status between breast PTs and ALN metastases was performed using χ² test for Ki-67, ER α, PR, HER2, E-cadherin, cyclin D1, Bcl-2, GCDFP-15, and PRL-3. Due to low expected values (<5), the Fisher’s exact test was performed for PD-L1 and Snail+Slug analysis.

**The analysis was performed excluding cases of 2+ intensity score.

ALN, axillary lymph node; ER, estrogen receptor; PR, progesterone receptor; PT, primary tumor.

Significant results are bolded.