Abstract
We investigated the prognostic significance of Helix pomatia lectin (HPA) staining on disease-free and overall survival in 120 primary breast carcinomas. HPA staining was present in 58 (48%) of these carcinomas. It was significantly associated with axillary lymph node metastases (P < 0.001) and c-erbB-2 expression (P < 0.01). A univariate study revealed that disease-free and overall survival were significantly correlated with clinical stage, tumour size, axillary lymph node metastases. HPA staining and c-erbB-2 expression. In a multivariate study, all previous prognostic indicators except HPA staining and c-erbB-2 expression were independent factors. However, stratifying the patients on the basis of HPA and c-erbB-2 status suggested that HPA +/c-erbB-2+ status was predictive of a higher incidence of axillary lymph node metastases (P = 0.000001) and a poorer overall (P < 0.0002) and a shorter disease-free (P < 0.000006) survival when compared with the other subgroups, although this combination did not provide any additional prognostic information for overall (P = 0.3544) or disease-free (P = 0.7152) survival by a multivariate analysis. For patients in whom axillary lymph node dissection has not been performed, therefore, HPA and c-erbB-2 status seems to be a powerful tool to discriminate subpopulations with a high recurrence risk and shorter survival who should undergo more aggressive therapy.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 24 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $10.79 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Thomas, M., Noguchi, M., Fonseca, L. et al. Prognostic significance of Helix pomatia lectin and c-erbB-2 oncoprotein in human breast cancer. Br J Cancer 68, 621–626 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1993.397
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1993.397
This article is cited by
-
Relevance of βGal–βGalNAc-containing glycans and the enzymes involved in their synthesis for invasion and survival in breast cancer patients
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment (2015)
-
Cytotoxic effect of achatininH (lectin) from Achatina fulica against a human mammary carcinoma cell line (MCF7)
In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology - Animal (2007)
-
Characterization of lectins and their specificity in carcinomas—An appraisal
Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistry (2003)
-
Localization of binding sites ofUlex europaeus I,Helix pomatia andGriffonia simplicifolia I-B4 lectins and analysis of their backbone structures by several glycosidases and poly-N-acetyllactosamine-specific lectins in human breast carcinomas
Histochemistry and Cell Biology (1996)