## Results  
### Patient Characteristics  
Demographic and clinicopathologic features of breast cancer patients are presented in Table 1. Mean age at presentation was \(49.5\pm 10.4\) ranging from 28-77 years (median 47, IQR 42-57). Mean BMI was \(29.7\pm 5.3\) kg/m\({}^{2}\) (range 18.7-41.2, median 29.1, IQR 25.8-33.3) and most patients (42.3%) were obese. Thirty-seven patients (52.1%) were premenopausal and 30 patients (42.3%) were postmenopausal. Mean tumor size was \(4.5\pm 0.3\) cm with a rage of 0.5-13 (median 4, IQR 2.5-5.9). More than half of patients (54.9%) had lymph node positive disease at presentation. Thirty patients presented at stage II disease (42.3%) while 24 patients had stage III disease (33.8%). Most patients (70.4%) had grade III disease and invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) was the most common histologic subtype (81.7%). Twenty-nine patients (40.8%) presented with triple-negative molecular subtype while (32.4%) presented with luminal disease. Other clinicopathologic parameters are shown in Table 1. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**Characteristics** & **n (\%)** \\ \hline Age, years & \\ \(<\)45 & 26 (36.6) \\ 45–60 & 33 (46.5) \\ \(>\)60 & 12 (16.9) \\ BMI, kg/m\({}^{2}\) & \\ Normal & 16 (22.5) \\ Overweight & 25 (35.2) \\ Obese & 30 (42.3) \\ Marital status & \\ Single & 8 (11.3) \\ Married & 63 (88.7) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Demographics and clinicopathologic characteristics of breast cancer patients (n = 71). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**Characteristics** & **n (\%)** \\ \hline \multicolumn{2}{c}{Menopausal status} \\ Premenopausal & 37 (52.1) \\ Postmenopausal & 30 (42.3) \\ Unknown & 4 (5.6) \\ Family history of breast cancer \\ Absent & 49 (69.0) \\ Present & 14 (19.7) \\ Unknown & 8 (11.3) \\ Smoking \\ Never smoker & 61 (85.9) \\ Past smoker & 3 (4.2) \\ Current smoker & 6 (8.5) \\ Unknown & 1 (1.4) \\ Alcohol intake \\ Never & 66 (93.0) \\ Unknown & 5 (7.0) \\ HRT use \\ No & 60 (84.5) \\ Yes & 1 (1.4) \\ Unknown & 10 (14.1) \\ Site of disease \\ Right & 35 (49.3) \\ Left & 33 (46.5) \\ Bilateral & 3 (4.2) \\ Tumor size \\ \(<\)2 cm & 6 (8.5) \\ \(\geq\)2 cm & 59 (83.1) \\ Unknown & 6 (8.5) \\ Lymph nodes \\ Negative & 24 (33.8) \\ Positive & 39 (54.9) \\ Unknown & 8 (11.3) \\ Stage \\ I & 3 (4.2) \\ II & 30 (42.3) \\ III & 24 (33.8) \\ IV & 11 (15.5) \\ Unknown & 3 (4.2) \\ Grade \\ I & 5 (7.0) \\ II & 14 (19.7) \\ III & 50 (70.4) \\ Unknown & 2 (2.8) \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{Hisiologic type} \\ IDC & 58 (81.7) \\ ILC & 11 (15.5) \\ Other & 2 (2.8) \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{LVI} \\ Unidentified & 28 (39.4) \\ Identified & 37 (52.1) \\ Unknown & 6 (8.5) \\ ER & \\ Positive & 23 (32.4) \\ Negative & 48 (67.6) \\ PR & \\ Positive & 19 (26.8) \\ Negative & 52 (73.2) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: _Cont._Expression of IR and c-MET in Breast Cancer Tissues and Association with Clinicopathologic Characteristics  
IR immunoreactivity was detected in 68/71 patients (95.8%) by IHC. IR was detected in cell membranes (Figure 1A-D). Mean IRS score for IR expression was 4.5 \(\pm\) 0.4 ranging from 0-12 (median 4.0, IQR 2.0-6.0). According to IRS scoring, 8 patients (11.8%) classified to have negative expression of IR, 22 patients (32.4%) had mild staining, 31 patients (45.6%) had moderate staining, and 7 patients (10.3%) showed strongly positive staining (Figure 1A-D). The association between clinicopathologic characteristics of breast cancer patients and expression of IR is shown in Table 2. Fifty-three patients (74.6%) were determined to have low expression of IR. IR expression was significantly associated with tumor grade (\(p\) = 0.017). Among patients with high IR expression, 42.1% presented with low-to-intermediate grade (I/II) compared to 14.9% of patients who had high grade carcinoma and high IR expression. IR expression was also significantly associated with ER expression (\(p\) = 0.015). Low IR expression was mostly found among patients with an ER-negative status (86.7%).