Overexpression of phosphatase of regenerating liver-3 in breast cancer: association with a poor clinical outcome.
BACKGROUND
Increasing evidence has suggested that phosphatase of regenerating liver-3 (PRL-3) plays an important role in cancer cell migration, invasion and metastasis. However, the correlation between the PRL-3 expression and clinical outcome in breast cancer has not been investigated.


METHODS
Using a PRL-3-specific monoclonal antibody 3B6, PRL-3 expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry in tumor tissues from 382 breast cancer patients with a median follow-up of 65 months.


RESULTS
We found that 34.8% patients expressed a high level of PRL-3 protein in their tumors. Patients with a high level of PRL-3 in the tumor had a worse disease-specific survival (DSS) rate than those with a low level of PRL-3 (74.0% versus 84.9%, P = 0.011), and PRL-3 remained an independent prognostic marker for DSS (HR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1-2.9, P = 0.019) in multivariate analysis. More importantly, in 219 node-negative patients, PRL-3 showed a significant correlation with DSS in univariate analysis (P = 0.014) and retained a borderline significance (HR 2.65, 95% CI 0.92-7.64, P = 0.071) in multivariate analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that PRL-3 may serve as an unfavorable prognostic marker in breast cancer, especially for patients with node-negative diseases. Thus, our findings may provide useful information for individualized therapy in the clinical setting.
Wang
L
L
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Peking University School of Oncology, Beijing Cancer Hospital and Institute, Beijing, PR China.
Peng
L
L
Dong
B
B
Kong
L
L
Meng
L
L
Yan
L
L
Xie
Y
Y
Shou
C
C
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D019556:COS Cells; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D052138:Genes, Neoplasm; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D011379:Prognosis; D017027:Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D016019:Survival Analysis
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; C484730:PTP4A3 protein, human; D017027:Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases