Prognostic relevance of Wnt-inhibitory factor-1 (WIF1) and Dickkopf-3 (DKK3) promoter methylation in human breast cancer

Table 3 Univariate survival analysis of clinicopathological and molecular factors (log-rank test)

Variable	Categorization	Overall survival			Disease-free survival
		n¹	events	P ²	n¹	events	P ²
*Clinicopathological factors*
Age at diagnosis
	<57 years	64	7	0.094	64	16	0.711
	≥ 57 years	61	14		61	14
Tumor size³
	pT1-pT2	107	17	0.372	107	25	0.427
	pT3-pT4	16	4		16	5
Lymph node status³
	pN0	54	3	0.002	54	5	<0.001
	pN1-pN3	65	18		65	24
Histological grade
	G1-G2	72	5	0.001	72	11	0.012
	G3	53	16		53	19
Histological type
	IDC	101	19	0.267	101	22	0.277
	other	24	2		24	8
Immunohistochemistry
Estrogen receptor
	negative (IRS⁴ 0–2)	40	9	0.155	40	9	0.962
	positive (IRS 3–12)	80	12		80	21
Progesterone receptor
	negative (IRS⁴ 0–2)	39	9	0.154	39	13	0.087
	positive (IRS 3–12)	81	12		81	17
WIF1 promoter
	unmethylated	47	9	0.656	47	8	0.154
	methylated	78	12		78	22
DKK3 promoter
	unmethylated	46	1	<0.001	46	7	0.037
	methylated	79	20		79	23

¹Only female patients with primary, unilateral invasive breast cancer were included. ²Log-rank test. ³According to UICC: TNM Classification of Malignant Tumours [25]. ⁴IRS, immunoreactivity score according to Remmele and Stegner [27]. IDC, invasive ductal carcinoma.

ISSN: 1471-2407