Cytoplasmic p21 WAF1/CIP1 expression is correlated with HER-2/ neu in breast cancer and is an independent predictor of prognosis

Table 2 Relationships between HER-2 and p21^WAF1/CIP1 localisation and overall survival/relapse-free survival

		Univariate analysis			Multivariate analysis
	Number of patients	Hazard ratio per 10 IDS units for p21	95% confidence interval	P	Hazard ratio per 10 IDS units for p21	95% confidence interval	P
Overall survival
p21
p21 nucleus	64	0.96	0.77, 1.19	0.70	0.96	0.75, 1.22	0.73
p21 cytoplasm	63	1.12*	1.01, 1.25	0.03*	1.15*	1.03, 1.28	0.01*
HER-2 (2+/3+ versus 0/1+)	63	2.26*	1.00, 5.27	0.05*	3.14*	1.15, 8.64	0.03*
Relapse-free survival
p21
p21 nucleus	64	1.01	0.84, 1.22	0.89	1.03	0.84, 1.25	0.80
p21 cytoplasm	63	1.12*	1.01, 1.24	0.03*	1.15*	1.02, 1.28	0.02*
HER-2 (2+/3+ versus 0/1+)	63	2.60*	1.19, 5.71	0.02*	4.08*	1.60, 10.39	0.003*

Hazard ratios, confidence intervals and P values are given for the results of both the univariate analyses and the multivariate analyses. For univariate and multivariate analyses, the hazard ratio is given for nuclear and cytoplasmic p21 ^WAF1/CIP1 per 10 unit increase in intensity distribution score (IDS), along with the 95% confidence interval. The hazard ratio and confidence interval for HER-2 relates to 2+/3+ versus 0/1+. Patients with ductal, lobular or 'mixed' cancer were included where the marker data was available. The multivariate analysis is adjusted for the Nottingham Prognostic Index (NPI) (nodes, grade and size) and for treatment (tamoxifen/chemotherapy/no treatment), with the NPI based on imputed grades and tumour sizes where the relevant data were missing as described in the statistical methods. *Relationship reached significance (P < 0.05).

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