Preliminary comparison of tumor biologic factors in breast carcinomas from Australian and Chinese women.

Objective: To compare the morphologic and immunohistochemical properties of breast carcinomas from Chinese and Australian women in order to define possible biologic differences between these carcinomas.

Study design: Three hundred cases of breast carcinomas were assessed for histologic and immunophenotypic characteristics from the pathology archives of the Changhai and St. Vincent's Hospitals.

Results: The Chinese women had proportionally more grade 2 and 3 tumors, whereas Australian women had a higher proportion of grade 1 tumor. There was a higher proportion of younger patients with a larger tumor and patients with lymph node involvement in the Chinese group as compared with Australian women. There was no difference in rate of estrogen receptor positive tumors between the 2 groups. p53 Expression was statistically more common with less cyclin D1 expression in Chinese as compared with Australian women.

Conclusion: This study indicates that both inherent tumor biology and stage at presentation influence adversely affect the outcome of breast carcinoma in Chinese compared as with Australian women.