Clinicopathological significance of ERCC1 expression in breast cancer

The excision repair cross-complementation 1 (ERCC1) enzyme plays an essential role in the nucleotide excision repair pathway and is associated with resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy in different types of cancer. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the clinicopathological significance of ERCC1 expression in breast cancer patients. We analyzed the immunohistochemical expression of ERCC1 in a tissue microarray from 135 primary breast carcinomas and correlated the immunohistochemical findings with clinicopathological factors and outcome data. ERCC1 expression analysis was available for 109 cases. In this group, 58 (53.2%) were positive for ERCC1. ERCC1-positive expression was correlated with smaller tumor size (P = 0.007) and with positivity for estrogen receptor (P = 0.040), but no correlation was found with other clinicopathological features. Although not statistically significant, triple negative breast cancers were more frequently negative for ERCC1 (61.5% of the cases) compared to the non-triple negative breast cancer cases (41.5%). In conclusion, ERCC1 expression correlated significantly with favorable prognostic factors, such as smaller tumor size and ER-positivity, suggesting a possible role for ERCC1 as a predictive and/or prognostic marker in breast cancer.     

An extensive tumor array analysis supports tumor suppressive role for nucleophosmin in breast cancer

Nucleophosmin (NPM) is a multifunctional protein involved in a complex network of interactions. The role of NPM in oncogenesis is controversial. The NPM gene (NPM1) is mutated or rearranged in a number of hematological disorders, but such changes have not been detected in solid cancers. However, experiments with cultured NPM-null cells and with mice carrying a single inactivated NPM allele indicate a tumor suppressor function for NPM. To resolve the role of NPM in solid cancers, we examined its expression and localization in histologically normal breast tissue and a large array of human breast carcinoma samples (n = 1160), and also evaluated its association with clinicopathological variables and patient survival. The intensity and localization (nucleolar, nuclear, cytoplasmic) of NPM varied across clinical samples. No mutations explaining the differences were found, but the present findings indicate that expression levels of NPM affected its localization. Our study also revealed a novel granular staining pattern for NPM, which was an independent prognostic factor of poor prognosis. In addition, reduced levels of NPM protein were associated with poor prognosis. Furthermore, luminal epithelial cells of histologically normal breast displayed high levels of NPM and overexpression of NPM in the invasive MDA-MB-231 cells abrogated their growth in soft agar. These results support a tumor suppressive role for NPM in breast cancer.     

Impact of RASSF1A gene methylation on clinico-pathological features of tumor and non-tumor tissue of breast cancer

BackgroundBreast cancer is the most common malignancy in women caused by genetic and epigenetic changes. Promoter DNA methylation in tumor suppressor gene plays a major role in breast cancer. The study determined the association of promoter DNA methylation of RASSF1A gene with clinicopathological features in tumor and non-tumor tissue.Materials and methodsA cross sectional study was conducted in the Department of Pathology, Government Institute of Medical Sciences, Greater Noida and Molecular Pathology Laboratory, Department of Pathology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences. Two sections, one from tumor and the other from non-tumor tissue, were obtained and processed for DNA extraction and bisulphite conversion. Methylation specific PCR was done and results of RASSF1A promoter methylation were statistically correlated with clinicopathological features.ResultsOf the 27 breast cancer tissue, 22 showed invasive ductal carcinoma, one showed invasive lobular carcinoma, another showed ductal carcinoma in situ and three cases showed malignant phyllodes tumor of breast. DNA promoter methylation was found in all the cases. 93% of tumor tissue samples and 67% of the non-tumor tissue samples were found to be aberrantly methylated. Tumor size and histological grade were found to be significantly (p-val <0.05) associated with the RASSF1A gene promoter methylation.ConclusionA significant association of higher tumor size and tumor histological grade with promoter methylation of RASSF1A gene exists suggestive of its being an important determinant of prognostic staging. This critical event in tumorigenesis may be of clinical utility in assessing breast cancer progression.Micro abstractThe study focuses on the RASSF1A gene promoter methylation and its impact on the clinicopathological features in Indian breast cancer patients highlighting the differences from other genetically different population. We found that RASFF1A gene methylation has significant impact on tumor size and tumor grade. The work carries high significance because it addresses the DNA methylation of tumor suppressor gene in relevance of breast cancer. It may also be the first such report on Indian patients with breast cancer.     

Expression of PC-cell-derived growth factor in benign and malignant human breast epithelium

PC-cell-derived growth factor (PCDGF, progranulin) is a novel autocrine growth factor that is overexpressed in human breast cancer cell lines. We have examined immunohistochemical PCDGF expression in 206 paraffin-embedded human breast lesions and investigated its association with clinicopathological variables. PCDGF staining was observed in breast carcinoma, whereas it was almost always negative in benign breast epithelium. PCDGF expression was more common in invasive ductal carcinoma (80% cases positive) than in invasive lobular carcinoma (53% positive). PCDGF staining was almost never observed in lobular carcinoma in situ. Ductal carcinoma in situ expressed PCDGF in 66% of the cases, and this expression correlated strongly with nuclear grade. Similar correlation was observed between PCDGF expression and histologic grade of invasive ductal carcinoma. Average Ki-67 index of PCDGF-negative/weakly positive invasive carcinomas (30.3) was significantly lower than that of strongly PCDGF-positive tumors (48.8, P=0.01). A larger percentage of tumors that expressed PCDGF with a staining intensity of 2+ or 3+ were p53 positive (44%) than were PCDGF-negative tumors (25%), P=0.02. PCDGF expression was independent of c-erbB-2 overexpression and of ER and PR status. Our study provides the first evidence of high incidence of PCDGF expression in human breast cancer in which it correlates with clinicopathological variables such as tumor grade, proliferation index, and p53 expression. These characteristics, as well as the virtual absence of expression in benign breast tissue, suggest an important role of PCDGF in breast cancer pathogenesis and make it a potential novel target for the treatment of breast cancer.     

ROBO4在上皮性卵巢癌组织和血清中的表达及临床意义

目的 探讨ROBO4在上皮性卵巢癌组织和血清中的表达及其在卵巢癌发生发展中的作用。方法 采用免疫组织化学和反转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）方法检测110例卵巢癌,54例卵巢良性肿瘤,40例正常卵巢组织中ROBO4蛋白和ROBO4mRNA表达,比较其表达与卵巢癌临床病理特征的关系;并采用ELISA检测卵巢癌、卵巢良性肿瘤和正常人血清中ROBO4表达水平。结果 卵巢癌组织中ROBO4蛋白和ROBO4mRNA表达显著低于正常对照组和卵巢良性肿瘤组（P<0.05）;上皮性卵巢癌血清中ROBO4的表达明显低于卵巢良性肿瘤和正常人（P<0.05）;卵巢癌组织中ROBO4表达降低与卵巢癌FIGO分期、淋巴结转移、大网膜转移和腹水相关（P<0.05）;卵巢癌组织中ROBO4表达与年龄、组织学类型和病理分级无相关性。卵巢癌患者血清ROBO4、CA125的相关分析显示,两者之间无相关性。结论 在卵巢癌发生过程中ROBO4表达降低起到重要作用,表达异常的ROBO4与卵巢癌的侵袭转移能力相关,并与卵巢癌的临床病理学特征有明显的相关性。     

Expression of the cytoskeleton linker protein ezrin in human cancers

Expression of the metastasis-associated protein, ezrin, in over 5,000 human cancers and normal tissues was analyzed using tissue microarray immunohistochemistry. Ezrin staining was compared between cancers and their corresponding normal tissues, between cancers of epithelial and mesenchymal origin, in the context of the putative inhibitor protein, merlin, and against clinicopathological data available for breast, lung, prostate cancers and sarcomas. Ezrin was found in most cancers and normal tissues at varying levels of intensity. In general ezrin was expressed at higher levels in sarcomas than in carcinomas. By normalizing the expression of ezrin in each cancer using ezrin expression found in the corresponding normal tissue, significant associations between ezrin were found in advancing histological grade in sarcomas (P = 0.02) and poor outcome in breast cancer (P = 0.025). Clinicopathologic associations were not changed by simultaneous assessment of ezrin and merlin in each patient sample for the cancer types examined. These data support a role for ezrin in the biology of human cancers and the need for additional studies in breast cancer and sarcoma patients that may validate ezrin as a marker of cancer progression and as a potential target for cancer therapy. Electronic Supplementary Material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

High expression of CEACAM19, a new member of carcinoembryonic antigen gene family,in patients with breast cancer

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) family members play important roles in malignancies and are introduced as biomarkers in different types of cancers. Among them CEACAM19 (CEAL1) gene, a new member of the CEA family, remains to be fully elucidated. The aim of this study was investigating the mRNA expression level of CEACAM19 in tumor samples of breast cancer patients compared to breast tissue of normal individuals. We evaluated the expression level of this gene in 75 breast tumors by using real-time quantitative PCR. Also, we studied the correlation between CEACAM19 expression and clinicopathological features and hormone receptors status, including estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 of patients. Out of the enrolled patients, six of them (7.9%) showed low expression, ten (13.2%) showed normal expression and 59 (77.6%) showed high expression of CEACAM19. There was a significant correlation between high expression of CEACAM19 gene in tumor samples compared to normal tissues (P = 0.039). No significant correlation was seen between clinicopathological factors and disease-free survival with mRNA levels of CEACAM19 in tumor samples, while the difference between the expression of CEACAM19 in ER/PR-positive and ER/PR-negative breast cancer patients was statistically significant (P = 0.046). In conclusion, CEACAM19 showed high expression in tumor samples compared to normal mammary tissue. In addition, CEACAM19 may represent as a novel therapeutic target in certain subgroups of breast cancer patients such as ER/PR-negative. Critical roles of CEA proteins in tumor progression may nominate them as robust potential targets for therapeutic intervention in near future.     

Genetic polymorphisms of TP53-binding protein 1 (TP53BP1) gene and association with breast cancer risk

In the present study, we evaluated the association between the TP53BP1 Glu353Asp and T-885G polymorphisms and breast cancer risk as well as with the clinicopathological characteristics of the patients. Genotyping of these polymorphisms was performed on 387 breast cancer patients and 252 normal and healthy women who had no history of any malignancy using PCR-RFLP method in a hospital-based Malaysian population. Breast cancer risk was not observed among women who were heterozygous (OR(adj) = 0.887; 95% CI, 0.632-1.245) or homozygous (OR(adj) = 1.083; 95% CI, 0.595-1.969) for Asp allele, and those carriers of Asp allele (OR(adj) = 0.979; 95% CI, 0.771-1.243). Similarly, women who were TG heterozygotes (OR(adj) = 1.181; 95% CI, 0.842-1.658) or GG homozygotes (OR(adj) = 1.362; 95% CI, 0.746-2.486) and carriers of G allele (OR(adj) = 1.147; 95% CI, 0.903-1.458) were not associated with increased risk of breast cancer. Asp allele genotype was significantly associated with ER negativity (p = 0.0015) and poorly differentiated tumours (p = 0.008), but G allele genotype was not associated with the clinicopathological characteristics. In conclusion, Glu353Asp and T-885G polymorphic variants might not have an influence on breast cancer risk, thus might not be potential candidates for cancer susceptibility. Glu353Asp variant might be associated with tumour aggressiveness as defined by its association with ER negativity and poorly differentiated tumours.     

bFGF在恶性肿瘤中的表达及其临床病理意义

目的:检测临床常见恶性肿瘤(非小细胞肺癌、乳腺癌、结肠癌和黑色素瘤)组织中碱性成纤维细胞生长因子(b FGF)的表达情况,并分析其与恶性肿瘤临床病理学特征之间的相关性。方法:采用免疫组织化学SP技术检测208例原发性恶性肿瘤(肺癌68例,乳腺癌80例,结肠癌41例和黑色素瘤19例)石蜡包埋组织中b FGF蛋白的表达水平。结果:在肺癌中b FGF蛋白高表达多见于伴有淋巴结转移的低分化患者,与肿瘤原发灶大小、淋巴结受累、远处转移(TNM)分期呈正相关,且b FGF的表达对患者中位生存期无明显影响;在乳腺癌中,b FGF高表达多见于伴淋巴结转移的晚期患者;在结肠癌中b FGF蛋白表达多见于伴有区域淋巴结转移的中高分化患者;此外,在晚期有淋巴结转移的黑色素瘤患者中,b FGF蛋白呈高表达。结论:b FGF可能参与了临床常见恶性肿瘤的发生和演变过程,b FGF蛋白表达可能成为判断恶性肿瘤是否发生转移的有效参考指标之一。     

上皮钙黏蛋白、波形蛋白和Snail蛋白表型在乳腺浸润性导管癌中表达的相关性及其与预后的关系

目的 检测上皮钙黏蛋白(E-cadherin)、波形蛋白(Vimentin)和Snail蛋白在乳腺浸润性导管癌中的表达情况与乳腺癌病理特征的关系及其与浸润性导管癌预后的关系.方法 采用Envision免疫组织化学方法对89例乳腺浸润性导管癌组织中的上E-cadhenn,Vimentin和Snail蛋白表达情况进行检测并分析表达程度与临床病理特征之间的关系;统计分析采用卡方检验、Fisher精确概率法检验Spearman等级相关检验、配对计数资料检验、Kaplan-Meier法进行单因素生存分析,Cox比例风险模型进行生存的多因素分析.结果 E-cadherin、Vimentin和Snail蛋白在浸润性导管癌组织中的阳性表达率分别为、47.1％、53.9％和55.0％,三者呈负相关,(P=0.003);E-cadherin、Vimentin和Snail蛋白的表达与临床TNM分期有关(P ＜0.005).浸润性导管癌中Snail蛋白、Vimentin表达明显增高,Snail蛋白与淋巴结转移有关(P =0.029);Vimentin与淋巴结转移、雌激素状态有关(P =0.006,P＜0.001);E-cadherin表达明显降低,与孕激素状态有关(P =0.030);分子分型结果显示,管腔A型、HER-2阳性型组的Vimentin、Snail蛋白阳性表达率低于基地细胞样型组(P =0.012),而E-cadherin表达率则高于基地细胞样型组(P =0.004).Cox分析发现,E-cadherin低表达和Vimentin的过度表达与患者总生存期(P =0.019、P=0.045)及患者无病生存期(P =0.032、P=0.024)显著相关,但Snail蛋白的表达与总生存期及无病生存期无相关性(P =0.879、P=0.835).结论 E-cadhern、Vimentin和Snail蛋白在乳腺浸润性导管癌的发生、发展、侵袭及转移中起重要作用,对认识乳腺癌的生物学特性以及对指导乳腺癌的诊疗及预后具有重要意义.     

Prognostic value of nuclear hepatoma-derived growth factor (HDGF) localization in patients with breast cancer

Hepatoma-derived growth factor (HDGF) plays an important role in tumor progression. Highly expressed HDGF has been found to indicate poor prognosis in many cancers. However, no information is available regarding the prognostic value of nuclear or cytoplasmic HDGF staining level in breast cancer. In the present study, the nuclear or cytoplasmic HDGF staining level was investigated in 86 patients with primary breast cancer by immunohistochemistry; the relationship between nuclear or cytoplasmic HDGF staining level and clinicopathological parameters was examined by Two-tailed Mann-Whitney U-test or Krustal-Wallis. The prognostic value of nuclear or cytoplasmic HDGF staining level in disease-free survival and overall survival was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier methods and log-rank test. We found that the percentage of cases with strong nuclear HDGF staining level was significantly higher in the cases with high tumor grade, high stage, high proliferation index (Ki-67 index>20%), as well as in those with lymph node invasion and recurrence (p<0.05) compared to those without. No significant correlation was found between cytoplasmic HDGF expression and any clinicopathological variables. In addition, disease-free survival and overall survival were significantly lower in patients with high nuclear HDGF expression (level 2) than in those with low nuclear HDGF expression (level 0 and level 1). Further Cox multivariate analysis showed that high nuclear HDGF expression is an independent factor for indicating poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. No significant difference in disease-free survival rate and overall survival was found between different cytoplasmic HDGF staining levels. All these findings suggest that increased nuclear HDGF expression is involved in tumor progression and might be used as a new prognosticator for breast cancer.     

Intratumoral heterogeneity of HER2 gene amplification in breast cancer: its clinicopathological significance

Intratumoral heterogeneity of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) gene amplification has been reported to occur with variable frequencies in breast cancers. However, there have been few studies of its clinicopathological significance. We used tissue microarrays to evaluate two aspects of intratumoral heterogeneity of HER2 gene amplification: regional heterogeneity and genetic heterogeneity. We examined 96 invasive breast cancers in which HER2 amplification had been diagnosed in whole sections, and determined the clincopathological characteristics of those tumors. HER2 regional heterogeneity, defined as the existence of amplification/negative or amplification/equivocal patterns in different tissue microarray cores of a tumor, was present in 17 (18%) of the 96 cases. HER2 genetic heterogeneity, defined as the presence of tumor cells with a HER2/chromosome enumeration probe 17 ratio higher than 2.2 in 5-50% of the tumor cells, was found in 11 cases (11%), all of which showed HER2 regional heterogeneity. The cases with intratumoral heterogeneity of HER2 gene amplification were characterized by low grade or equivocal HER2 amplification and equivocal (2+) HER2 expression in whole sections. The patients with intratumoral heterogeneity of HER2 gene amplification had significantly shorter disease-free survival times than those with homogeneous HER2 gene amplification, and this effect was also evident in subgroup analysis by hormone receptor status. In multivariate analysis, intratumoral HER2 heterogeneity retained its status as an independent prognostic factor for disease-free survival. In conclusion, intratumoral heterogeneity of HER2 gene amplification is present in a subset of HER2-amplified breast cancers, especially in cases with low-grade HER2 amplification and equivocal HER2 expression, indicating a need for HER2 testing on more representative, larger tumor samples for accurate assessment of HER2 status in such cases. The patients with this heterogeneity have decreased disease-free survival, suggesting that genetic instability, and hence aberrant HER2 amplification in subclones of such tumors, may be associated with breast cancer progression.     

乳腺癌中IMP3表达及其与临床病理特征的关系

目的研究乳腺癌中IMP3的表达及其与临床病理特征之间的关系。方法利用组织芯片技术和免疫组织化学EliVi-sion两步法检测214例乳腺癌标本中IMP3的表达。结果214例乳腺浸润性导管癌中,IMP3阳性表达31例(14.49%)。乳腺癌IMP3的阳性表达与乳腺癌的组织学级别(P=0.005)、Ki-67增殖指数(P=0.033)及三阴性表型(P0.001)密切相关。IMP3的表达与病人年龄、肿瘤最大直径、淋巴结转移数量、pTNM分期和p53表达状况均无关(P0.05)。结论IMP3表达与乳腺癌组织级别高、Ki-67增殖指数高以及在三阴性亚组表达高相关,预示IMP3与乳腺癌的进展和恶性度相关,并可能作为三阴性乳腺癌的一个辅助诊断指标。     

ki67在三阴性乳腺癌中的临床病理意义

目的 通过检测三阴性乳腺癌中细胞增殖抗原ki67的表达情况,分析其与临床病理特征及预后的关系,明确ki67是否可以作为判断三阴性乳腺癌的预后指标.方法 应用免疫组织化学方法检测ki67在三阴性乳腺癌组织中的表达,分析ki67表达与三阴性乳腺癌患者临床病理特征的相关性及与预后的关系.结果 ki67在三阴性乳腺癌组织中的表达与肿瘤大小、TNM分期、组织学分级和淋巴结转移有关(x2=10.536、16.824、11.020、7.180、P＜0.05).单因素生存分析结果显示:肿瘤大小、临床分期、组织学分级、淋巴结转移和ki67与患者总生存均相关(OR=4.211、3.800、0.288、3.502、2.612,P＜0.05).Cox多因素生存分析显示,淋巴结转移与总生存有一定的相关性(OR=2.768,P＜0.05).结论 ki67表达与三阴性乳腺癌中肿瘤大小、TNM分期、组织学分级和淋巴结转移有关,对于三阴性乳腺癌的预后评估具有一定的价值,可作为评价三阴性乳腺癌预后的候选指标.通过Cox多因素生存分析,淋巴结转移可作为与总生存相关的独立预后因素.     

miRNA-212在乳腺癌的表达及其与临床病理特征的关系

目的分析miRNA-212在乳腺癌中的表达及其与临床病理特征的关系。方法选择90例乳腺癌患者的手术标本(癌组织及其癌旁组织)提取总RNA,采用TaqMan探针逆转、实时定量PCR检测miRNA-212在乳腺癌及其癌旁正常组织中的表达量,并分析其与临床病理特征关系。结果乳腺癌组织miRNA-212表达量为3.06(0.146-10.274),与癌旁正常组织相比显著上调;miRNA-212的表达与TNM分期相关,TNM分期越高,miRNA-212表达越高;miRNA-212的表达也与淋巴结转移相关,淋巴结转移患者miRNA-212表达增加。结论miRNA-212表达上调可能与乳腺癌的发生及其转移有关。     

ACLY: A biomarker of recurrence in breast cancer

ObjectiveACLY is a cytoplasmic metabolic enzyme involved in lipid synthesis. It also affects proliferation and metastasis of breast cancer. However, the correlation of ACLY expression with breast cancer recurrence is unclear.MethodsThe Oncomine and TCGA databases were used to investigate the mRNA expression of ACLY in breast cancer. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to evaluate ACLY expression level in tumor tissues and normal tissues from 127 breast cancer patients. Next, the prognostic role of ACLY was explored by analyzing the clinicopathological features and prognosis during follow-up. The role of ACLY in breast cancer cells drug resistance was further detected by CCK-8 assays and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).ResultsACLY mRNA and protein expression was significantly increased in the breast cancer tissues compared to normal tissues. Clinically, high ACLY levels were associated with ER status, PR status, tumor size, TNM stage, and lymph node invasion. Upregulated ACLY predicted worse tumor relapse-free survival (RFS) of breast cancer patients in univariate analyses and in multivariate models. In subgroup analysis, patients with high ACLY expression showed worse RFS in the TNM III or ER positive subgroups. Moreover, ACLY over-expression induced the resistance of breast cancer cells to docetaxel and promoted the expression of multi-drug resistant protein ABCB1/ABCG2.ConclusionsOur study highlights the possibility of ACLY as a potential and independent biomarker for the recurrence prediction in breast cancer patients. It may be related to ACLY promoting drug resistance in breast cancer cells.