Abstract

Abstract Purpose: The steroid receptor RNA activator (SRA) is a functional RNA suspected to participate in the mechanisms underlying breast tumor progression. This RNA is also able to encode for a protein, SRAP, whose exact function remains to be determined. Our aim was to assess, in a large breast cancer cohort, whether levels of this protein could be associated with outcome or established clinical parameters.Experimental Design: Following antibody validation, we have assessed SRAP expression by tissue-microarray (TMA) analysis of 372 tumors with known steroid receptor and node status. Clinical follow-up was available for all the corresponding patients. Immunohistochemical scores were independently determined by two investigators and averaged. Statistical analyses were performed using standard univariate and multivariate tests.Results: SRAP levels were significantly (Mann-Whitney rank sum test, P<0.05) higher in estrogen receptor-alpha positive (ER+, n = 273), in progesterone receptor positive (PR+, n= 256) and in older patients (age ≥ 65 years, n = 183). When considering ER+ tumors, PR+ tumors, or young patients (< 65 years), patients with high SRAP expression had a significantly (Mantel-Cox test, P < 0.05) worse breast cancer specific survival (BCSS) than patients with low SRAP levels. SRAP also appeared as a very powerful indicator of poor prognostic for BCSS in the subset of ER+, node negative and young breast cancer patients (Cox regression analysis, n = 60, BCSS Hazard Ratio=13.937, P<0.0001).Conclusion: Our data suggest that SRAP might be a new predictor of breast cancer specific survival in younger breast cancer patients with ER+/node negative tumors. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 2017.

Highlights

  • Introduction The steroid receptorRNA activator is a functional RNA suspected to participate in the mechanisms underlying breast tumor progression

  • Our data suggest that steroid receptor RNA activator protein (SRAP) levels might provide additional information on potential risk of recurrence and negative outcome in a specific set of patients with otherwise good prognosis when considering only estrogen receptor and nodal status

  • Anti-SRAP antibody validation The ability of the 743A anti-SRAP antibody (Bethyl, Montgomery, TX, USA) to recognize SRAP was first assessed by western blot analysis of total protein extracted from Michigan Cancer Foundation (MCF)-7 breast cancer cells, previously shown to express this protein [15,16,17]

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Summary

Introduction

Introduction The steroid receptorRNA activator is a functional RNA suspected to participate in the mechanisms underlying breast tumor progression. Growth receptor (HER)-2, which is over-expressed in about 25% of breast cancers and is associated with a more aggressive disease and a poorer outcome, has been used as a prognostic and predictive marker [3] Recent approaches such as gene profiling and tissue micro-arrays (TMAs) have increased our ability to identify new potential markers, and to rapidly test their potential validity [4,5]. The more such molecules are identified, the higher become the odds of finding the optimal combination of markers allowing the determination of an 'ideal' treatment for any given patient [6]

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