Table 2

Association of CD44+/CD24- phenotype with clinical characteristics

Characteristic
All tumors (n = 240)
Negative (0%) (n = 165)
Positive (> 0%) (n = 75)
P valuea

Median age (years)
64.1
64.3
63.5
1.0
Menopausal status



0.098
     Premenopausal
42 (18)
24 (15)
18 (24)

     Postmenopausal
198 (83)
141 (85)
57 (76)

Tumor size



0.58
     > 20 mm
183 (76)
143 (75)
40 (80)

     ≤ 20 mm
57 (24)
47 (25)
10 (20)

Lymph node status



0.19
     Positive (n > 0)
159 (66)
114 (69)
45 (60)

     Negative (n = 0)
81 (34)
51 (31)
30 (40)

S-phase fraction



1.0
     High (> 12%)
37 (26)
29 (26)
8 (27)

     Low (< 12%)
106 (74)
84 (74)
22 (73)

     Missing
97



Histologic type



< 0.001
     Ductal
176 (77)
119 (77)
57 (78)

     Lobular
28 (12)
23 (15)
5 (7)

     Lobular + ductal
13 (6)
11 (7)
2 (3)

     Medullary
8 (4)
0 (0)
8 (11)

     Other
3 (1)
2 (1)
1 (1)

     Missing
12



Estrogen receptor



0.45
     Positive (> 25 fmol/mg)
159 (68)
112 (70)
47 (64)

     Negative
74 (32)
48 (30)
26 (36)

     Missing
7



Progesterone receptor



0.89
     Positive (> 25 fmol/mg)
114 (49)
79 (49)
35 (48)

     Negative
119 (51)
81 (51)
38 (52)

     Missing
7



HER2



0.002
     Strong (score = 3)
38 (16)
34 (21)
4 (5)

     Weak/negative
202 (84)
131 (79)
71 (95)

Cytokeratin 5/14b



0.012
     Strong
28 (13)
17 (10)
11 (25)

     Weak/negative
188 (87)
155 (90)
33 (75)

     Missing
24



Epidermal growth factor receptorc




     Strong
27 (11)
12 (7)
15 (20)

     Weak/negative
210 (89)
150 (93)
60 (80)

     Missing
3



Distant metastasis



1.0
     Positive
73 (30)
50 (30)
23 (31)

     Negative
167 (70)
115 (70)
52 (69)


Data presented as n (%). aP values were calculated using Fisher's exact test, except for age where the Mann-Whitney U test was used. The missing categories were always excluded. bScoring as previously described [12]. cScoring as previously described [20].

Honeth et al. Breast Cancer Research 2008 10:R53   doi:10.1186/bcr2108