p53 Protein Accumulation and Presence of Visceral Metastasis Are Independent Prognostic Factors for Survival in Patients with Metastatic Inflammatory Breast Carcinoma

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the markers of prognosis in metastatic inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). Subjects and Methods: The prognostic value of patients’ clinical characteristics and expression of c-erbB-2, p53, Ki-67, ER and PgR were assessed in the 45 patients with IBC who had developed distant metastasis. Immunohistochemical methods were used to detect the expression of c-erbB-2, p53, Ki-67, ER and PgR in surgical resection specimens of the patients’ primary tumor. Results: The median overall survival (OS) measured from the diagnosis of metastatic disease was 23 months. In the univariate analysis, p53 protein accumulation and the presence of visceral metastasis were predictive of poor survival (p = 0.01 and 0.003, respectively). In the multivariate analysis, accumulation of p53 protein and the presence of visceral metastasis correlated with OS (p = 0.02 and 0.008, respectively). Conclusion: In metastatic IBC, accumulation of p53 protein and presence of visceral metastasis are independent prognostic factors for OS. Established prognostic factors in non-IBC patients such as patient age, histologic grade, hormone receptor status and c-erbB-2 status did not have independent significance in IBC in this study.