Abstract
BackgroundMaspin is a unique member of the serine protease inhibitor superfamily and its expression is found in myoepithelial cells of normal mammary glands; therefore, it has been considered to be a myoepithelial marker. We previously reported that maspin was frequently expressed in biologically aggressive breast cancers. In turn, triple-negative (TN) breast cancer is a subtype of tumor with aggressive clinical behavior and shows frequent expression of basal markers. We hypothesized that maspin expression may be frequent and correlate with basal rather than myoepithelial markers in TN breast cancer.MethodsParaffin-embedded 135 TN invasive ductal carcinoma tissue samples were immunohistochemically investigated using the Dako Envision+ kit and primary antibodies for maspin, basal (CK5/6, EGFR, CK14) and myoepithelial markers (p63, CD10). The correlation between maspin expression and relapse-free survival (RFS) was investigated by the log-rank test.ResultsThe positive rate for maspin was 85.9% and significantly correlated with younger age (P = 0.0015), higher histological grade (P = 0.0013), CK5/6 positivity (P < 0.0001), CK14 positivity (P = 0.0034) and the basal-like subtype defined by CK5/6, EGFR and CK14 positivity (P = 0.013). The positive rates for CK5/6, EGFR, CK14, CD10 and p63 were 59.2%, 48.9%, 34.1%, 17.8% and 12.6%, respectively. There was no significant correlation between maspin expression and RFS.ConclusionsThe positive rate for maspin is the highest among known basal and myoepithelial markers, and strongly correlates with basal markers in TN breast cancer. These results suggested that maspin could be a candidate for a therapeutic target for TN breast cancer.
Highlights
Maspin is a unique member of the serine protease inhibitor superfamily and it has been shown to have tumor suppressive activity attributable to the inhibition of breast cancer cell motility, invasion and metastasis [1]
Its expression is found in myoepithelial cells of normal mammary glands; it has been considered to be a myoepithelial marker, but its correlation with basal markers, such as CK5/6, CK14 and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), in breast cancers remains to be solved
We previously reported that maspin expression was an independent poor prognostic indicator in invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) [3], and that its expression was upregulated during the progression of mammary ductal carcinoma [4]
Summary
Maspin is a unique member of the serine protease inhibitor superfamily and it has been shown to have tumor suppressive activity attributable to the inhibition of breast cancer cell motility, invasion and metastasis [1]. Its expression is found in myoepithelial cells of normal mammary glands; it has been considered to be a myoepithelial marker, but its correlation with basal markers, such as CK5/6, CK14 and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), in breast cancers remains to be solved. Triple-negative (TN) breast cancer is a subtype of tumor with aggressive clinical investigated the frequency of maspin expression and its correlation with established basal (CK5/6, EGFR, CK14) and myoepithelial (p63, CD10) markers in TN breast cancer. Maspin is a unique member of the serine protease inhibitor superfamily and its expression is found in myoepithelial cells of normal mammary glands; it has been considered to be a myoepithelial marker. Triple-negative (TN) breast cancer is a subtype of tumor with aggressive clinical behavior and shows frequent expression of basal markers. We hypothesized that maspin expression may be frequent and correlate with basal rather than myoepithelial markers in TN breast cancer
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