Expression of ras oncogene p21 in relation to prognostic factors of human breast cancer]

For the purpose of demonstrating the relationship between the expression of ras oncogene p21 protein and clinico-pathological characteristics which reflected the prognosis, 253 women with breast cancer who underwent mastectomy were analyzed. Ras p21 was detected in 133 (52.6%). In histological types, scirrhous carcinomas were more often ras p21-positive, and papillo-tubular carcinoma were usually negative. And histological grade was significantly correlated with ras p21. The degrees of invasion to fat tissues and infiltration into lymphatic vessels were also significantly correlated with ras p21. Tumors with lymph node metastases expressed higher levels of ras p21 than nonmetastasizing tumors in smaller tumors, especially in papillo-tubular carcinomas. And patients with elevated ras expression tended to have a poor prognosis. These results suggested that an elevated ras expression may play an important role in the development of aggressive tumors.