The Prognostic Role of Protein Expression in Pregnancy-Associated Breast Cancer: A Literature Review

Author(s): Anna-Maria Korakiti, Despoina Kalapanida, Meletios-Athanasios Dimopoulos, Flora Zagouri

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies diagnosed during gestation. Pregnancy-associated breast cancer is characterized by poor prognostic outcome.

Objectives: This literature review aims to synthesize all available data and evaluate the prognostic role of protein expression in pregnancy-associated breast cancer.

Search Strategy: All articles were retrieved from Medline/PubMed database using an algorithm that consisted of a predefined combination of the keywords: breast, cancer, pregnancy, protein.

Conclusion: The prognostic role of estrogen and progesterone receptors, HER-2 expression, PD-1, PDL-1 and CTLA-4, RANK and RANKL, p63 and WT-1, EGFR, cyclins D1 and E is meticulously analyzed. Further research on the biological characteristics of pregnancy-associated breast cancer consists an urgent need.