title: Clinical significance and prognostic value of chromatin assembly factor-1 overexpression in human solid tumours.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Chromatin assembly factor-1 (CAF-1), whose function is critical for maintaining chromatin stability during DNA replication and repair, has been identified as a proliferation marker in breast cancer. The aim was to investigate CAF-1 as a proliferation marker in a wide variety of solid tumours, and to assess its potential value in predicting clinical outcome.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using immunocytochemistry on paraffin-embedded tissue sections, the CAF-1 labelling index was compared with known proliferation markers Ki-67 and minichromosome maintenance (MCM), and its association with clinicopathological data and patients' outcome analysed. CAF-1 expression showed a strong positive correlation with Ki-67, used routinely to detect proliferating cells, while it generally displayed weaker correlations with MCM markers, known to label cells with replicative potential. CAF-1 expression was associated significantly with histological grade in breast, cervical, endometrial and renal cell carcinomas, and with disease stage in endometrial and renal carcinomas. Furthermore, high expression of CAF-1 was an independent predictor of adverse clinical outcome in renal, endometrial and cervical carcinomas.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CAF-1 is a proliferation marker in various malignant tumours with prognostic value in renal, endometrial and cervical carcinomas, which supports the value of CAF-1 as a clinical marker of cancer progression.
authors.affiliation: UMR218 Curie/CNRS, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Sophie E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Polo
authors.forename: Stamatios E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Theocharis
authors.forename: Laure
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Grandin
authors.forename: Laetitia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gambotti
authors.forename: Guillemette
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Antoni
authors.forename: Alexia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Savignoni
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Asselain
authors.forename: Efstratios
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Patsouris
authors.forename: Geneviève
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Almouzni
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D056504:Chromatin Assembly Factor-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004261:DNA Replication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D026341:Minichromosome Maintenance 1 Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C533593:CHAF1B protein, human; D056504:Chromatin Assembly Factor-1; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D026341:Minichromosome Maintenance 1 Protein