The role of Ghrelin Receptor Expression in the Diagnosis of breast cancer

Abstract

To determine the possible role of the assessment of Ghrelin receptor expression in breast tissues as a tool for the diagnosis of breast cancer and differentiate it from a benign breast tumor. A case-control study was done on 60 female patients with breast cancer and 60 female patients with benign breast tumors (Fibroadenoma) who were recruited from Al Imamain Al-Kadhemain Medical City and Oncology teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq between May 2018 and December 2018. Immunohistochemical staining was done on the breast tissue samples obtained from patients and compared with the control group, which comprised 75 fibrocystic tissue samples obtained from age, BMI and sex-matched females. The degree of Ghrelin Receptor expression was determined immunohistochemically. The expression of Ghrelin receptors in breast malignant tumor tissues was higher than that in benign breast tumor tissues and controls, in addition to that, results obtained from all groups revealed that Ghrelin receptor intensity and its expression proportion were strongly and significantly associated with the type of tissues. The expression of the Ghrelin receptor can be considered as a highly significant immunohistochemical marker for the detection of breast tumors and for the differentiation between both types of tumors; benign and malignant.