Expression of Fibulin-2 in breast cancer and its clinical significance

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expression and clinical significance of Fibulin-2 in breast cancer.Methods Thirty-five samples of breast,containing normal breast tissue,ductal carcinoma in situ and invasive ductal carcinoma,were detected by immunohistochemistry.Results In normal breast tissue group,preserved deposition of Fibulin-2 was found in 70.8% (17/24) of breast ducts,and focally disrupted deposition in 29.2% (7/24);in ductal carcinoma in situ,40.0% (32/80) of ducts had focally disrupted deposition,and the rest had absent deposition;and there was no breast duct structure in 80.0%(12/15) of invasive ductal carcinoma with absent Fibulin-2 expression,only 20.0% (3/15) had incompleted ducts with absent Fibulin-2 deposition;Statistic analysis showed that Fibulin-2 expression was different in three groups.With the increase of malignancy,preserved deposition of Fibulin-2 around breast ducts was decreased,while absent deposition was increased.Conclusion Fibulin-2 was involved in the process of the development of breast cancer.It played an important role in cancer cell penetrating the basement membrane and local metastasis. Key words: Breast neoplasms; Fibulin-2; Basement membrane; Extracellular matrix