c-myc gene amplification in selected node-negative breast cancer patients correlates with high rate of early relapse.

In breast cancers with histologically negative axillary nodes selected for high frequency of recurrence, the amplification of c-myc, erbB-2 and int-2 genes was found to concern, respectively 25% (16/65), 31% (25/81) and 14% (10/70) of tumours. Their relation with tumour progression expressed by relapse-free survival is reported. Using univariate analyses, c-myc amplified tumours showed significant association with early (30-month period after diagnosis) (P = 0.0013) and intermediate (50-month period after diagnosis) (P = 0.0398) risks of recurrence. In contrast, only a trend towards higher relapse was observed in erbB-2 amplified breast cancers with respect to later events (occurring over the first 30-month period). Multivariate analyses indicated that c-myc amplification is an independent prognostic factor stronger than oestrogen receptor status and tumour size to define a high risk subset in node-negative patients selected for high frequency of recurrence.