title: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition in breast cancer correlates with high histological grade and triple-negative phenotype.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is characterized by a loss of epithelial nature and the acquisition of a mesenchymal form. The aim of this study was to assess the role of EMT in human mammary carcinogenesis, by performing immunohistochemical studies of EMT markers with tissue microarrays.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 492 cases were evaluated and classified as hormone receptor (HR)-positive type, HER2 type and triple-negative (TN) type by the use of immunohistochemistry and in-situ hybridization. We compared these groups in terms of epithelial and mesenchymal marker expression patterns. Of the 102 cases of TN-type breast cancer, 24.5% expressed vimentin, 13.7% expressed N-cadherin, and 9.8% expressed smooth muscle actin (SMA). Of the 221 cases of HR-type breast cancer, 4.1% expressed vimentin, 5.9% expressed N-cadherin, and 0.4% expressed SMA. Regarding epithelial markers, decreased expression was seen in 16.7% of cases for E-cadherin, in 45.1% for cytokeratin (CK)19 and in 60.8% for CK8 and CK18 (CAM5.2) in TN-type breast cancer cases. Decreased expression was seen in 11.8% of cases for E-cadherin, in 6.8% for CK19 and in 3.2% for CAM5.2 in HR-type cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  EMT features were particularly seen in TN-type breast cancer (P < 0.001). EMT was also significantly associated with high histological grade (P < 0.001).
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Korea University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hoiseon
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Young-joon
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.forename: Jungsuk
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: An
authors.forename: Youngseok
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Aeree
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D010641:Phenotype; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human