Association between expression of ALDH1 and TGFb2 genes, histological and clinical findings in breast cancer

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies. The relationship between the pathogenesis of breast tumours and their invasive behaviour is an important issue that has been discussed recently. ALDH1 and TGFb2 genes can be mentioned among the most crucial signalling and molecular pathways that play an active role in tumour invasive behaviour. The aim of this study was to determine the expression level of ALDH1 and TGFb2 genes in breast cancer and its relationship with histology in breast cancer patients.Method and material: This cross-sectional study was done on 65 breast cancer patients who had been referred to the Army 501 hospital during the years of 1992-1994. Data was collected using the patient records, and the results of immunohistochemically staining were obtained in the laboratory. Data were analyzed by SPSS software using t-test, Chi-square and Fisher tests. The level of significance was considered to be 0.05.Results: In this study, we assessed the expression of these genes in tissue samples of 65 patients with breast cancer and its relation with the histology and clinical progress. The expression of ALDH1 in the malignant breast tissue was 83.5% (55 out of 65 samples) and the expression of TGFb2 gene showed 54 samples (83.1%) were positive. There was a significant relationship between lymphatic drainage and ALDH1 expression. Conclusion: There was a significant relationship between ALDH1 expression, tumour size, neuronal invasion, tumour grade, metastasis, and lymph node involvement. There was also a significant relationship between TGFb2 expression and tumour size, metastasis, tumour grade, and lymph node involvement. There was no significant relationship between the expression of ALDH1, TGFb2, and the type of pathology and history of chemotherapy