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pS2 Expression and Response to Hormonal Therapy in Patients with Advanced Breast Cancer¹

Departments of Radiation Therapy [L. H. S., J. M. S.] and Pathology [F. C. K., S. M. E., A. D. T.], Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, and the Laboratory of Molecular Biology [M-C. R., J-P. B., P. C.], L. G. M. E., Institute de Chimie Biologique, Faculté de Medicine, 67085 Strasbourg Cedex, France

Seventy-two patients with advanced breast carcinoma (42% bone, 25% visceral, 5.5% soft tissue, and 27.5% multiple site metastases) were evaluated to determine the relationship between tumor expression of the estrogen-regulated protein pS2, estrogen receptor (ER) or progesterone receptor (PgR) content, and response to hormonal therapy. Twenty-nine % of tumors were pS2 positive, 64% were ER positive, and 29% were PgR positive. Of the ER-positive patients (n = 43), 15 (35%) had > 10% of the invasive carcinoma which immunostained for pS2 (these were considered pS2 positive). Only 3 of 24 Er-negative tumors were pS2 positive. A weak association between pS2 expression and ER content (P = 0.08) but not PgR content was observed. Of pS2-positive patients, 52% had a partial or complete response to hormonal therapy. In 24% of pS2-positive patients the disease stabilized with treatment. In contrast, 27% of pS2-negative patients had a partial or complete response. In 10% of these patients the disease stabilized. Similar associations between therapeutic response and ER or PgR were not observed. The odds of having a clinical response to hormonal therapy was greater for pS2-positive than for Er- or PgR-positive tumors. pS2 expression may define a subset of ER-positive tumors that are more likely to respond to hormonal treatment.

¹ Supported by an American Cancer Society Career Development Award and by NIH PO1 CA44768 (A. D. T.).

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114.

Received 10/ 9/90. Accepted 10/31/90.

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