Diagnostic utility of PELP1 and GATA3 in primary and metastatic triple negative breast cancer

Abstract

IntroductionMetastasis from Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a significant cause of morbidity and death and also presents a diagnostic challenge. There are significant therapeutic implications for making a correct and timely diagnosis of metastatic TNBC because the tumors may respond to chemotherapy. PELP1 expression has been reported recently in BC but is poorly studied in the diagnosis of primary and metastasis of TNBC. ObjectivesThe aim of the present study is to assess the diagnostic utility of PELP1and compare it with GATA3, the most commonly used in our practice for breast cancer. MethodsPELP1 and GATA3 were assessed by immunohistochemistry in formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue blocks of 30 cases of primary TNBC and 15 cases of metastatic TNBC at the Pathology department, Zagazig University, Egypt. ResultsThe immunohistochemical expression of PELP1 revealed a higher frequency of expression than GATA3 in both primary and metastatic TNBC. PELP1 revealed a (96.67%) positive expression rate in primary TNBC and a (86.67%) positive in metastatic TNBC. In comparison to GATA3, revealed (53.33%) positive expression rate in primary TNBC and (60%) positive in metastatic TNBC. Furthermore, the majority of the PELP1 positive cases showed diffuse strong staining, making observation of the staining easy and suggested that PELP1 may be a molecular target for TNBC therapy. We predict that this analysis will shed light on PELP1's significance in TNBC. ConclusionIn comparison to GATA3, PELP1 protein expression is substantially higher in diagnosis of primary and metastatic TNBC.