Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 in breast cancer: analysis with tissue microarray.
BACKGROUND
IGFBP-3 has been reported to be growth-stimulatory. The creation of tissue microarray (TMA) allows for the rapid immunohistochemical analysis of thousands of tissue samples in a parallel fashion. This study was designed with the application of TMA to analyze the IGFBP-3 status in breast cancer with the hope to elucidate the possible relationship between IGFBP-3 expression and breast cancer biology.


METHODS
Archival tissue specimens from 97 patients with primary invasive breast cancer were selected. The IGFBP-3 expression was analyzed by TMA. The data of primary tumor staging, age, estrogen receptor status, lymph node status, histological grading and TNM staging were also collected.


RESULTS
There were 40 patients (41%) with 0-1 expression of IGFBP-3, 52 patients (54%) with 2 expression of IGFBP-3 and 5 patients (5%) with 3 expression in IGFBP-3. By multivariate analysis, the IGFBP-3 expression turned out to be significantly related to the overall five-year survival rate.


CONCLUSIONS
The preliminary results about IGFBP-3 expression in breast cancer are intriguing and require further evaluation.
Department of Surgery, Kaohsiung Medical Center, Kaohsiung Hsien, Taiwan, Republic of China. smsheen@yahoo.com
Shyr-Ming
SM
Sheen-Chen
Hao
H
Zhang
Chao-Cheng
CC
Huang
Rei-Ping
RP
Tang
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018972:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3; D018969:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C515497:IGFBP3 protein, human; D018972:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3; D018969:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Proteins