Abstract: Background and purpose: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is currently the focus of breast cancer research. Researches demonstrated that the molecular biological characteristics of different ethnic groups are not the same. This study mainly probed into the expression of endothelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in Han and Uygur TNBC patients, and the relationship between the expression and prognosis of patients. Methods: From Jan. 2007 to Jan. 2009, 167 patients were admitted. Among those, 121 were Han and 46 were Uygur patients. The expressions of EGFR, and VEGF were detected by PV-9000 immunohistochemical staining, and compared with lymph node metastasis and clinical staging. The results were analyzed by SPSS 18.0 statistical software. Results: Five-year disease-free survival (DFS) of two groups had no indifferent (P>0.05). EGFR and VEGF positive rate of Han patients was lower than that of Uygur patients (P<0.05). Their expressions were correlated with TNM staging and lymph node metastasis (0<r<1, P<0.05). Conclusion: This study found that the EGFR and VEGF expression rate which was unfavorable to prognosis of TNBC patients was lower in the Uygur group than that in the Han group. However, no significant difference in 5-year DFS was found between the two groups (P>0.05). Uygur TNBC patients might have a different prognostic factor as compared with Han patients. Further studies need to be carried out.

Key words: Endothelial growth factor receptor, Vascular endothelial growth factor, Han, Uygur, Triple-negative breast cancer