肥胖乳腺癌患者癌组织中PI3K/Akt信号通路的活性及意义

目的：观察肥胖乳腺癌患者乳腺癌组织中磷酯酰肌醇3激酶（PI3K）/Akt信号通路的活性。方法：选取45例肥胖乳腺癌患者（肥胖组）与37例正常体质量乳腺癌患者（对照组）的乳腺癌组织标本，分别用RT-PCR法检测两组乳腺癌组织中PI3K mRNA的表达，及免疫组化法检测PI3K和磷酸化Akt（p-Akt）蛋白的表达。结果：RT-PCR结果显示，肥胖组乳腺癌组织中PI3K mRNA表达较对照组明显增高（P<0.05）；免疫组化结果显示，肥胖组PI3K和p-Akt蛋白表达均明显升高（均P<0.05），且PI3K与p-Akt蛋白表达水平在两种组织中均呈正相关（r=0.76，r=0.81，均P<0.05）。结论：肥胖乳腺癌患者癌组织中PI3K/Akt信号通路活性明显高于非肥胖患者，故推测这可能是导致肥胖者乳腺癌风险增高的原因之一。

Activity of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in cancer tissues from obese breast cancer patients and its significance

Objective: To observe the activity of the signaling pathway of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt in the tumor tissues in obese breast cancer patients.Methods: Breast cancer specimens from 45 obese breast cancer patients (obesity group) and 37 normal-weight breast cancer patients (control group) were collected, and then, the PI3K mRNA expression was determined by RT-PCR, and the protein expressions of PI3K and phosphorylated Akt (p-Akt) were determined by immunohistochemical staining in the two groups of breast cancer tissues, respectively.Results: The results of RT-PCR showed that the PI3K mRNA expression was significantly elevated in breast cancer tissues of obesity group compared with control group (P<0.05). The results of immunohistochemical staining revealed that both PI3K and p-Akt protein expressions in breast tissues of obesity group were significantly higher than those in breast tissues of control group (both P<0.05) and, moreover there was a positive correlation between PI3K and p-Akt protein expression in either group of tissues (r=0.76 and r=0.81, both P<0.05). Conclusion: The activity of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in cancer tissues of obese breast cancer patients is increased compared with non-obese breast cancer patients, thus, it is speculated to be one of the factors for the increased risk of breast cancer in obese women.