KRT15 in early breast cancer screening and correlation with HER2 positivity, pathological gradeand N stage.

Abstract

Objective: This study was designed to explore KRT15 dysregulation and its correlation with clinical characteristics among ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), DCIS with microinvasion (DCIS-MI)and invasive breast cancer (IBC) patients. Methods: KRT15 from lesion samples of 50 DCIS patients, 48 DCIS-MI patientsand 50 IBC patients was detected by immunohistochemistry. Results: KRT15 discriminated IBC patients from DCIS patients (area under the curve [AUC] =0.895; 95% CI=0.836-0.954) and DCIS-MI patients (AUC=0.707; 95% CI=0.606-0.808). In DCIS patients, KRT15 was negatively correlated with pathological grade (p=0.015). In DCIS-MI patients, KRT15 was positively related to estrogen receptor positivity but negatively associated with Ki-67 (both p<0.05). In IBC patients, KRT15 was negativelylinked to HER2 positivity, histological grade, N stageand tumor node metastasis stage (all p<0.05). Conclusion: KRT15 assessmentmay help with early breast cancer screening.