Cell cycle progression is governed by cell cycle regulators and inhibitors such as the cyclin dependent kinases (CDK), p27(Kip1), p21(WAF1/Cip1) and p53. The purpose of this study was to correlate expressions of p34(cdc2), p27(Kip1), p21(WAF1/Cip1) and p53 with the various clinicopathologic prognostic parameters of humanbreastcancers.
The expression rates of p34(cdc2), p21(WAF1/Cip1) and p53 were 29.3%, 40.2% and 49.1% in breast carcinomas, respectively. In normal breasttissues, p34(cdc2), p21(WAF1/Cip1) and p53 were not expressed. The p34(cdc2) was expressed in the cytoplasm of cancercells. The expression rate of p27(Kip1) was 29.3% in breast carcinomas and 100% in normal breasttissues, so the loss of p27(Kip1) expression in breast cancer was noted. The high expression of p21(WAF1/Cip1) in neoplastic cells was associated with the p53 expression (p=0.03). The expression of p27(Kip1) was correlated with that of the progesterone receptor (PR) (p=0.04) and the expression of p21(WAF1/Cip1) was correlated with that of positivity for estrogen receptor (ER) (p=0.04) and PR (p=0.04). No correlation was demonstrated between the mean patientsurvival and the expression rate of p34(cdc2), p27(Kip1), p21(WAF1/Cip1) and p53.