Abstract
Sixty-eight patients with advanced breast cancer were treated with mitoxantrone and clinical responses assessed. Expression of c-erbB-2 protein and cytosolic glutathione S-transferase (GST) isoenzymes pi, alpha and mu by the primary tumours of these patients was determined immunohistochemically, and correlated with treatment response. Tumours overexpressing c-erbB-2 (n = 16, 23%) showed a lower response rate (50% vs 58%) and shorter duration of response to treatment, compared with c-erbB-2 negative tumours. These associations were not statistically significant but survival following start of treatment was significantly shorter in the c-erbB-2 positive group. For each GST isoenzyme, the response rate and duration of response of the group showing enzyme expression did not differ significantly from those with negatively staining tumours. These data do not support a role for expression of GSTs alone in resistance to mitoxantrone monotherapy in advanced breast cancer. The poorer post treatment survival of patients with c-erbB-2 positive tumours suggests they could be selected for more intensive treatment regimens.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 24 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $10.79 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wright, C., Cairns, J., Cantwell, B. et al. Response to mitoxantrone in advanced breast cancer: correlation with expression of c-erbB-2 protein and glutathione S-transferases. Br J Cancer 65, 271–274 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1992.54
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1992.54
This article is cited by
-
A literature review of molecular markers predictive of clinical response to cytotoxic chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer
International Journal of Clinical Oncology (2009)
-
HER-2 therapy. HER-2/neu diagnostics in breast cancer
Breast Cancer Research (2007)
-
C-myc, not HER-2/neu, can predict recurrence and mortality of patients with node-negative breast cancer
Breast Cancer Research (2003)
-
Heregulin-β1 regulates the estrogen receptor-α gene expression and activity via the ErbB2/PI 3-K/Akt pathway
Oncogene (2003)