Prognostic-significance of p53 and C-erbb-2 expression in operable breast-cancer.

We analyzed associations among p53 and c-erbB-2 expression and clinicopathologic variables and, then ascertained whether p53 and/or c-erbB-2 expression would be useful for estimating prognosis in 105 breast cancer patients. There was no significant association between p53 and c-erbB-2 expression, but the combination of p53 and c-erbB-2 expression was significantly associated with axillary lymph node metastases. Although both p53 and c-erbB-2 expressions were significant prognostic factors by univariate analysis, they did not appear to be independent prognostic factors by multivariate analysis in which nodal status was introduced using the Cox model. When nodal status was excluded, however, p53 and c-erbB-2 expression each had independent prognostic value.