ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Simultaneous evaluation of maspin and CXCR4 in patients with breast cancer

Efthimia Tsoli^1,*, Petros K Tsantoulis^1,*, Alexandros Papalambros¹, Branko Perunovic², David England³, David A Rawlands², Gary M Reynolds², Dimitrios Vlachodimitropoulos⁴, Susan L Morgan², Chara A Spiliopoulou⁴, Thanos Athanasiou⁵ and Vassilis G Gorgoulis¹

¹ Department of Histology and Embryology, Molecular Carcinogenesis Group, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Athens, Greece
² Department of Cellular Pathology, University Hospitals NHS Trust, Birmingham, UK
³ Department of Surgery, University Hospitals NHS Trust, Birmingham, UK
⁴ Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Athens, Greece
⁵ Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, The National Heart and Lung Institute, St Mary’s Hospital, London, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr V G Gorgoulis
Antaiou 53 Street, Lamprini, Ano Patisia, Athens GR-11146, Greece; histoclub{at}ath.forthnet.gr

Aim: To study simultaneously the actions of maspin and CXCR4, which share several similar pathways in cancer, including apoptosis and angiogenesis.

Methods: Our material consisted of 151 invasive breast carcinomas arranged in a tissue microarray setting. Maspin and CXCR4 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Microvessel density was assessed by CD34 immunodetection and apoptosis by the Tdt-mediated dUTP nick end labelling assay.

Results: Maspin expression was related to CXCR4 expression, apoptosis, patient age and the Nottingham prognostic index. The expression of both maspin and CXCR4 progressively increased in high-grade tumours. In patients with lymph node negative breast cancer, maspin overexpression was associated with increased risk of death. High CXCR4 expression was associated with prolonged survival of patients with high maspin expression.

Conclusions: Our results show that maspin overexpression could prove to be a potentially useful marker, especially for the clinically important group of patients with lymph node negative breast cancer. The expression of CXCR4 is of less significance in our study, but may be informative for specific patient subsets or in a longer time frame.

Abbreviations: SDF-1, stromal cell derived factor-1; TMA, tissue microarray

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