Myoepithelial expression of Fas and strong nuclear expression of FasL in epithelial cells: A marker for risk stratification of breast cancer

Abstract

The clinical significance of Fas and FasL in hormone-sensitive carcinomas has been reported. Our objective was to evaluate the expression of apoptosis-regulating genes Fas and FasL in Indian breast cancer and fibroadenoma patients in relation to hormone receptor status. Retrospective. Paraffin-embedded tissue samples from 63 untreated female patients with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) and 32 female patients with fibroadenoma were studied. Expression of Fas and FasL was evaluated using immunohistochemical staining method. Fisher's exact test and nonparametric correlation test (Spearman rank correlation test) were performed. Fas was detected in 97% of the fibroadenomas and there was a slight decrease in levels of expression with histological grades of IDC. The expression of FasL was detected in 75% fibroadenomas and its expression increased in IDC. There was no correlation between Fas, FasL expression and hormone receptor status. Strong expression of Fas in myoepithelial cells was noted in 12 out of 32 fibroadenoma cases. Expression of Fas and FasL alone is unlikely to be important as a predictive factor as they express in both normal and malignant breast epithelium. But strong expression of Fas in myoepithelial cells along with strong nuclear expression of FasL in epithelial cells of fibroadenoma could be useful as an early predictive factor for onset of malignancy.