| Abstract: | Background Progranulin, an 88-kDa glycoprotein originally purified from the highly tumorigenic mouse teratoma-derived cell line P, which is newly discovered and closely correlated with the development and metastasis of several several cancers. But, as much information as we gathered, no immunohistochemical evidence for the correlation of progranulin expression with clinicopathological features in breast carcinoma pathological biopsies has been provided until now, and whether progranulin can be a new marker of metastatic risk and prognosis in breast cancer has not been studied. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinicopathological and prognostic implications of progranulin expression in breast carcinoma and its correlation with tumour angiogenesis.Methods The expression of progranulin in 183 surgical specimens from patients with breast cancer and 20 fibroadenoma breast tissue were detected by immunohistochemistry. The tumour angiogenesis related biomarker vascular endothelial growth factor was assayed and vascular endothelial cells in tumor tissues were labeled by antibody to CD105 for counting microvessel density (MVD). Results The relationship between expression of progranulin and the clinicopathological data was analysed. Progranulin proteins were overexpressed in breast cancer. The level of progranulin expression was found to be significantly correlated with tumour size (P = 0.004), lymph node metastasis (p<0.001) and TNM grading (p<0.001). High progranulin expression was associated with higher tumour angiogenesis as reflected by increased vascular endothelial growth factor expression (P < 0.001) and higher microvessel density (P = 0.002). Conclusions These results indicate that progranulin may be of great value in assessing the metastasis and prognosis of breast cancer, and could be taken as a new combination regimen for anti-angiogenic activity. |
