title: Nerve growth factor receptor immunoreactivity in breast cancer patients.
abstract: Nerve growth factor receptor (NGF-R) has been shown to have antiproliferative, differentiative, or apoptotic effects on some types of tumor cells, whereas in others it may have mitogenic activity. The immunohistochemical distribution of NGF-R was analyzed in a series of tissue samples from breast cancer patients and its relationship with other clinical and pathological parameters was studied. The distribution of NGF-R was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in frozen tissue samples of 46 breast cancer patients (ME20-4 monoclonal anti-NGF-R). NGF-R immunoreactivity was localized in the plasma membrane of myoepithelial cells, differentiated ducts, neoplastic cells, blood vessels, and nerve fibers in 26 patients (57%). Less differentiated neoplastic tissues were usually NGF-R negative. NGF-R immunoreactivity was associated with estrogen receptor (ER) status (p = 0.02), small tumor dimension (pT) (p = 0.04), low histologic grade (G1-G2) (p < 0.05), old age (p = 0.02), menopause (p = 0.02), and long disease-free survival (DFS) (median follow up 86 months; p = 0.03; independently from ER, pT, age, menopause by multivariate analysis, p = 0.0078). The expression of NGF-R immunoreactivity by breast cancer patients with long DFS may represent a crucial step both in the differentiation status of neoplasia and in the host immune mechanism controlling tumor growth and metastasization.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Clinica Oncologia e di Ricerca sui Tumori, Università di Messina, Italy. marcello.aragona@unime.it
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aragona
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Panetta
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Silipigni
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Romeo
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pastura
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mesiti
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cascinu
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: La Torre
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008593:Menopause; D008875:Middle Aged; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000032:analysis*; D017475:Receptors, Nerve Growth Factor / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D017475:Receptors, Nerve Growth Factor