Prognostic Value of CD74 and HLA-DR Expressions in Invasive Ductal Breast Cancer

Introduction: Despite the presence of many prognostic and predictive factors, overtreatment remains a major problem in patients with breast cancer. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of CD74 and HLA-DR expressions on the prognosis of patients who have had a mastectomy for the treatment of breast cancer. Materials and Methods: A retrospective search of medical records was carried out for patients who had surgery for breast cancer at the Department of General Surgery, Akdeniz University School of Medicine, between March 1984 and November 1999. Patients with regular follow-up and necessary data for the study (i.e. patients’ demographics, pathology results, and treatment characteristics) were included in the study. Paraffin blocks of tumor specimens were re-examined with immunohistochemical methods in March 2010 to determine the extent of CD74 and HLA-DR expression and the level of tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TILs). Results: The mean age and the median duration of follow-up for the 41 participants were 48.29 ± 11.86 years and 125 months (range 115 to 135 months), respectively. Disease-free survival (DFS) in CD74 negative subjects was better than in CD74 positive patients, but the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.75). Similarly, HLA-DR negative and HLA-DR positive groups showed no statistically significant differences in terms of DFS (p = 0.81). Conclusion: There were positive but insignificant correlations with increased expression of CD74, decreased expression of HLA-DR, and TILs levels. Further studies involving larger sample sizes may provide more insight into these associations.