directly related ie, smaller tumors and ones with less or no nodes involved do not necessarily do better ie, it is the molecular make-up of the tumor and not what size it is that may determine prognosis in some subgroups of breast cancer
This article shows for BRCA1 bc, basal (group within triple negative bc)...hope they study her2 next...
Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2008 Jul 4. [Epub ahead of print]
Tumor size is an unreliable predictor of prognosis in basal-like breast cancers and does not correlate closely with lymph node status.
Foulkes WD, Grainge MJ, Rakha EA, Green AR, Ellis IO.
Program in Cancer Genetics, Departments of Oncology and Human Genetics, McGill University, 546 Pine Ave West, Montreal, QC, Canada, H2W 126,
william.foulkes@mcgill.ca.
Larger breast tumors tend to be associated with a greater number of axillary lymph nodes involved with metastatic tumor than are smaller tumors. This rule may not fully apply in BRCA1-related breast cancers. We hypothesized that the rule also might not apply in basal-like breast cancers (BLBC), and further, that disruption of this relationship would impact on prognosis. In 1,324 non-BLBC (87.1% of 1520 tumors), after adjustment for grade, a strongly positive correlation between increasing tumor size and increasing number of lymph nodes involved by tumor was observed (P for trend <.001). The correlation was much weaker in 196 BLBC (12.9%) (P for trend = 0.58). Similarly, a worsening breast cancer-specific survival with increasing tumor size was observed in non-BLBC (P for trend <.001) but not in BLBC (P for trend = 0.43). The "size-nodes" relationship in BLBC is distinct and is similar to that seen in BRCA1-related breast cancer, further suggesting biological similarities between these sub-types of breast cancer. Moreover, tumor size is not a strong indicator of prognosis in BLBC.
PMID: 18600446 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher
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