title: Expression of metastasis-associated genes h-mts1 (S100A4) and nm23 in carcinoma of breast is related to disease progression.
abstract: The murine 18A2/mts1 and its human homolog h-mts1 (S100A4), encoding a Ca2+-binding protein belonging to the S-100 family, are associated with high invasive and metastatic potentials of murine tumors, human tumor cell lines in vitro, and human tumors growing as xenografts. The nm23 is a putative metastasis-suppressor gene whose expression has been found to correlate inversely with the metastatic potential of some forms of human cancer. The products of both human genes alter cytoskeletal dynamics, with antagonistic effects. In view of the equivocal association of nm23 with the metastatic potential of human cancer, we suspected that the relative expression of h-mts1 and nm23 might reflect tumor progression more accurately than either of them alone. We describe here the expression of these genes in infiltrating ductal carcinomas of the breast and show that high h-mts1 expression is associated with metastatic spread to the regional lymph nodes. The expression of nm23 on its own did not show a statistically significant inverse correlation with nodal spread. However, the expression status of the two genes, taken together, correlated strongly with the occurrence of nodal metastases. Breast cancers with no detectable expression of h-mts1 were found to be estrogen and progesterone receptor positive. Expression of h-mts1 was not related to tumor differentiation. The clinical data, together with the state of expression of steroid receptors and the expression levels of h-mts1 and nm23 genes, were analyzed using artificial neural networks for accuracy in predicting nodal spread of the carcinomas. These analyses support the conclusion that, overall, h-mts1 expression appears to be associated with and indicative of more aggressive disease. Complemented with nm23, h-mts1 could provide a powerful marker of breast cancer prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Centro Di Studio Sulla Patologia Cellulare Del CNR, University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Albertazzi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cajone
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Leone
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Naguib
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lakshmi
authors.forename: G V
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Sherbet
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000502:physiology*; D052138:Genes, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D020559:Monomeric GTP-Binding Proteins; D054778:NM23 Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinases; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D009701:Nucleoside-Diphosphate Kinase; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000032:analysis; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000032:analysis; D000071999:S100 Calcium-Binding Protein A4; D009418:S100 Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D054778:NM23 Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinases; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; D000071999:S100 Calcium-Binding Protein A4; D009418:S100 Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C077591:S100A4 protein, human; C517938:NME1 protein, human; D009701:Nucleoside-Diphosphate Kinase; D020559:Monomeric GTP-Binding Proteins