Expression of Bcl-2, but not Bax, correlates with estrogen receptor status and tumor proliferation in invasive breast carcinoma.
Bcl-2 and Bax have been demonstrated to be associated with apoptosis in breast carcinoma, and the ratio between Bax and Bcl-2 seems to be an important determinant of cellular sensitivity to induction of apoptosis. However, little information is available on the relationship between Bcl-2, Bax and the proliferative activity of breast carcinoma. The purpose of this study was to investigate the significance of apoptosis-related genes bcl-2 and Bax and their correlation with expression of p53, tumor proliferation defined by MIB-1 expression and estrogen receptor status. Immunohistochemistry was performed to determine Bcl-2, Bax, p53, estrogen receptor (ER) and MIB-1 expression in paraffin-embedded tissues of 177 invasive breast cancers. Expression of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 was not correlated with the pro-apoptotic Bax. Bcl-2 immunostaining displayed a negative correlation with increasing histologic grade, p53 and MIB-1 (P < 0.0001, P < 0.05 and P < 0.0001, respectively) and a positive correlation with rising ER immunostaining (r = 0.305, P < 0.0001). Conversely, expression of the apoptosis-promoting protein Bax did not correlate with increasing histologic grade, p53, MIB-1 or ER status. Neither Bcl-2 expression nor Bax expression correlated with age, menopausal status, tumor size, histologic type or axillary lymph node status. These results imply that Bcl-2 is associated with good prognostic markers and the regulation of Bax is complex and does not necessarily correlate with mutant p53 status in breast cancers.
Yang
Q
Q
Department of Surgery, Affiliated Kihoku Hospital, Japan.
Sakurai
T
T
Jing
X
X
Utsunomiya
H
H
Shan
L
L
Nakamura
Y
Y
Nakamura
M
M
Oura
S
S
Suzuma
T
T
Yoshimura
G
G
Umemura
T
T
Kokawa
Y
Y
Kakudo
K
K
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000556:secondary; D000328:Adult; D034961:Antigens, Nuclear; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002278:Carcinoma in Situ / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002455:Cell Division; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D008593:Menopause; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000378:metabolism; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein
D034961:Antigens, Nuclear; C494826:BAX protein, human; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein