Association of Ha-ras but not c-myc Expression with Lymph Node Status and Histological Grade in Breast Cancer

Abstract

We evaluated the association of Ha-ras and c-myc expression of 54 cases of breast cancer with clinical parameters such as estrogen receptor status, lymph node status, histological grade and menopausal status. In addition, we also analysed for a potential relationship between Ha-ras and c-myc expression. It was found that 56% of the intraductal carcinomas and 69% of the invasive ductal carcinomas were positive for Ha-ras oncoprotein whereas 44% of the intraductal carcinomas and 35% of the invasive ductal carcinomas were positive for c-myc oncoprotein. Expression of Ha-ras was correlated with lymph node 'status' (p<0.05) and histological grade (p<0.05) but c-myc expression was independent of the clinical parameters. It was also noted that the expression of Ha-ras was not significantly associated with c-myc. We conclude that Ha-ras expression may be used as a prognostic marker for aggressive progression of breast carcinomas.