Estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, HER2/neu, P53 and Ki-67 status of male breast carcinomas in Pakistan.

Objective: The aim of present study was to assess the status of estrogen and progesterone receptors, HER2/neu, p53 and ki-67 in male breast carcinomas in our institute.
Study Design: A descriptive study, carried out in the Department of Pathology (Histopathology), Army Medical College, Rawalpindi, Pakistan from June 2008 to January 2009.
Subjects and Methods: In this study 45 cases of male breast carcinoma, including all the histological subtypes were assessed with original pathology reports of each case investigated for the age, laterality of breast, histological type of tumour and tumour grade. Tumour blocks of each case were retrieved for immunohistochemical staining of estrogen and progesterone receptors and HER2/neu, ki-67 and p53 scoring was accomplished using established protocols.
Results: The majority of the cases were above 65 years of age. Histologically, the invasive ductal carcinoma was the predominant lesion. In total 95.5% of the cases were estrogen and progesterone (ER and PR) receptor positive. The HER2/neu staining was positive in 84.4% cases. According to the percentage of nuclear staining, 77.7% of the cases were p53 positive and 35.6% of the cases had strong nuclear staining intensity. A total of 55.5% of the tumours showed proliferation by ki-67.
Conclusion: The majority of male breast carcinomas in Pakistan are ER and PR positive and demonstrate immunoreactions for prognostic markers. The results point to a relatively aggressive nature of such lesions in our institute.