Overexpression of the anti-adhesin podocalyxin is an independent predictor of breast cancer progression.
Podocalyxin is a CD34-related cell surface molecule with anti-adhesive qualities. We probed a tissue microarray (n = 272) linked to long-term outcome data and found that podocalyxin was highly overexpressed in a distinct subset of invasive breast carcinomas (n = 15; 6%). Univariate disease-specific (P < 0.01) and multivariate regression (P < 0.0005) analyses indicated that this overexpression is an independent indicator of poor outcome. Forced podocalyxin expression perturbed cell junctions between MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells, and it caused cell shedding from confluent monolayers. Therefore, podocalyxin overexpression is a novel predictor of breast cancer progression that may contribute to the process by perturbing tumor cell adhesion.
Somasiri
Aruna
A
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of British Columbia, 2177 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z3.
Nielsen
Julie S
JS
Makretsov
Nikita
N
McCoy
Marcia L
ML
Prentice
Leah
L
Gilks
C Blake
CB
Chia
Stephen K
SK
Gelmon
Karen A
KA
Kershaw
David B
DB
Huntsman
David G
DG
McNagny
Kelly M
KM
Roskelley
Calvin D
CD
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007365:Intercellular Junctions / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D011379:Prognosis; D012795:Sialoglycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D012795:Sialoglycoproteins; C001643:podocalyxin