CD44 expression is associated with increased survival in node-negative invasive breast carcinoma.

Abstract

PURPOSE:

CD44 is a multifunctional cell surface receptor with many known splice variants, some of which have been reported to play a role in tumor progression. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of CD44 isoforms in early-stage, lymph node-negative invasive breast carcinoma.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN:

Immunohistochemical staining for CD44 isoforms was done on archival paraffin tissue sections of invasive breast carcinoma from a cohort of lymph node-negative patients who received no adjuvant tamoxifen or chemotherapy and who had a mean clinical follow-up period of 15 years. Immunohistochemical staining was done with antibodies to CD44s, the standard isoform of CD44, and to isoforms containing variant exon 6 (CD44v6); levels of staining were correlated with clinical outcome data.

RESULTS:

There was a trend towards increased disease-free survival for patients whose tumors had high anti-CD44s positivity (P = 0.05), and a significant association was observed between anti-CD44s positivity and disease-related survival (P = 0.04). Expression of CD44v6 isoforms did not correlate with clinical outcome.

CONCLUSION:

CD44 expression, as assessed by immunohistochemical staining with anti-CD44s, may be a favorable prognostic factor in patients with node-negative invasive breast carcinoma.

• Authors: Leslie K Diaz, Xiao Zhou, Edward T Wright, Massimo Cristofanilli, Terry Smith, Ying Yang, Nour Sneige, Aysegul Sahin, Michael Z Gilcrease
• Journal: Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (Clin Cancer Res) Vol. 11 Issue 9 Pg. 3309-14 (May 01 2005) ISSN: 1078-0432 [Print] United States
• PMID: 15867228 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.)

Chemical References

• Hyaluronan Receptors
• Protein Isoforms
• Receptors, Estrogen
• Receptor, ErbB-2

Topics

• Adult
• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Breast Neoplasms (metabolism, pathology)
• Female
• Humans
• Hyaluronan Receptors (biosynthesis)
• Immunohistochemistry
• Lymphatic Metastasis
• Middle Aged
• Multivariate Analysis
• Neoplasm Invasiveness
• Neoplasm Staging
• Prognosis
• Protein Isoforms (biosynthesis)
• Receptor, ErbB-2 (analysis)
• Receptors, Estrogen (analysis)
• Survival Analysis