Epidemiological and Biological Profiling of Breast Cancer in Southern Morocco

Abstract

Breast cancer is one of the most frequent cancers that affect women. Risk factors include a combination of multiple factors such as heredity, age, and environment. The frequency of breast cancer in Morocco increased significantly in recent years, and it is now a major public health concern. A retrospective epidemiological study was produced for a cohort of 1559 patients attending the regional center of oncology and radiotherapy in Agadir, during a period comprised between January 2010 and December 2015.Our data shows that the average age of the patients is 48 years, the majority of them present grade II tumors 66.38%. The immunohistochemical analysis of tumors revealed that 64% of them are positive for hormone receptors. With 67.07% is positive for ER and 61.01% positive for RP, while 29.17% of tumors overexpress the HER2 protein. The distribution of molecular subtypes of breast cancer shows that luminal A has the highest percentage 50.96% followed by basal-like 20.26%.To clarify the young epidemiological profile and the etiology of breast cancer a regional cancer registry is required. Furthermore, awareness campaigns are crucial to avoid having patients with aggressive forms of the disease. Therefore, to improve survival and reduce the morbidity of breast cancer patients.