Prognostic value of proliferation markers expression in breast cancer

In this study, immunohistochemical expression of five proliferation markers: Ki-67, aurora-A kinase, survivin, B-Myb and cyclin B1, was analyzed. Consecutive 215 tumor samples from breast cancer patients operated from 2002 to 2003 were analyzed using the TMA (tissue microarray) method. The median follow-up was 95 months (from 7.8 to 107 months). Statistically significant correlations between expression levels in five proliferation markers, and correlations between some of the proliferation markers and traditional prognostic factors were found. Statistically significant prognostic influence of aurora-A kinase, survivin and B-Myb expression levels on overall and disease-free survival was found, and cyclin B1 expression level on disease-free survival. A multivariate analysis confirmed survivin and B-Myb expression as independent prognostic factors of overall (p = 0.0195; p = 0.0004) and disease-free survival (p = 0.0107 and p = 0.0205) in breast cancer patients.