A different immunologic profile characterizes patients with HER-2-overexpressing and HER-2-negative locally advanced breast cancer: implications for immune-based therapies

Table 1 Patients' characteristics

Characteristic
Mean age, years	44.7	46.3
Range	23-70	32-67
Hormone receptor status ¹
ER+ and PgR+	6	23
ER+ and PgR-	4	5
ER- and PgR-	13	7
ER- and PgR+	2	1
HER2/neu
0-1		27
2+		9
CISH/FISH not amplified		9
CISH/FISH amplified		/
3+	25
Tumor size
T2	18 (2 multifocal)	26 (2 multifocal)
T3	7 (1 multifocal)	10 (1 multifocal)
Clinical lymph node involvement
N +	23	23
N -	2	13
Histotype
ductal	24	26
lobular	/	7
others	1	3
Grading ²
G1	/	/
G2	4	18
G3	17	15
G(x)		1
NA	4	2

¹ Hormone receptor status is significantly different between HER2+ and HER2- patients, with HER2-overexpressing cancers being mostly ER- and PgR- (P = 0.01).
CISH, chromogenic in situ hybridization; ER, estrogen receptor; FISH, fluorescence in situ hybridization; HER-2, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2; PgR, progesterone receptor.
² Grading is significantly different between the two cohorts of patients: HER2+ patients are mainly G3, while HER2- patients are mostly G2 (P = 0.01).

ISSN: 1465-542X