Prognostic and predictive factors in early breast cancer

Abstract

There are many potential prognostic and predictive factors in breast cancer and their number is growing every day. The contributions of the novel technologies for the study of genetic materials, that already have the capability of measuring thousands of genes simultaneously on a single tumor especimen, are of primary importance for this increment, but their integration into clinical practice will depend on the proper design and analysis of clinical investigations. However, the validated prognostic factors are few and has been unchanged for more than a decade. Accepted prognostic factors include axillary node status, tumor size, histological and nuclear grade, age and hormonal receptor status (ER and PR). Predective validated factors still are less: only ER and PR. With additional studies and the estandarización of the assays, the c-erbB-2 may soon be added to the list of prognostic and predictive validated factors.