Published by Scientific Reports
This study associated Ki-67, p53, and BCL-2 markers with clinical histopathological (CH) features using
currently available limited data on these markers in Tanzania. Retrospective chart review study was
conducted among females with confrmed breast cancer (BC) at Muhimbili National Hospital in Tanzania
between 2016 and 2017. Inclusion criteria were met by 76 patients with a mean age of 51.32±14.28
years. Of these, 86.4% were stage III and IV, whereas 83.5% cases had grade 2 and grade 3. Upon
immunostaining, 85.5% and 57.9% were Ki-67 and BCL-2 positive respectively. Log-linear analysis
showed no statistically signifcant association among biomarkers expression and CH features. However,
multinomial linear regression showed higher possibility for association between high expression
of Ki-67, low expression of p53 and high expression of BCL-2 with age, grade, stage and tumor (T)
stage. BCL-2 was positively correlated with Ki-67 expression contrary to p53, which was negatively
correlated with BCL-2. Conclusively, there is evidence of correlation between the studied markers with
CH features. However, studies with larger sample sizes will likely reveal signifcant associations that
will validate the role of these markers as tools for evaluating treatment response in individualized
therapeutic schemes in Tanzania.