Diagnostic and prognostic relevance of Cullin1 expression in invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast.
BACKGROUND
Cullin1 (Cul1) is a matrix degrading enzyme known to be involved in the remodelling of extracellular matrix proteins. This enzyme has recently been reported to play a key role in tumour progression and its presence is associated with poor clinical outcome for several different types of tumours.


METHODS
159 patients diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma between 2000 and 2005 were studied. Cul1 expression was analysed by immunohistochemical staining on a tissue microarray. The relationship between Cul1 expression and clinicopathological parameters was evaluated.


RESULTS
Tumour expression of Cul1 was correlated with prognostic factors such as high histological grade and p53 expression, and was also linked to negative ER and positive HER2 as therapeutic markers (all p<0.05). There was a significant association between poor overall survival and high Cul1 expression in both univariate and multivariate analyses (all p<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Cul1 expression was significantly associated with high-grade tumours and poor prognosis, suggesting that it may play a role in breast tumour progression. Cul1 expression may therefore be crucial for the prediction of disease outcome in breast cancer patients.
Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea.
Kyueng-Whan
KW
Min
Dong-Hoon
DH
Kim
Sung-Im
SI
Do
Jin Hee
JH
Sohn
Seoung Wan
SW
Chae
Jung-Soo
JS
Pyo
Chan Heun
CH
Park
Young-Ha
YH
Oh
Ki-Seok
KS
Jang
Hack-Lyoung
HL
Kim
Min
M
Kim
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality; D044842:Cullin Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000378:metabolism; D016019:Survival Analysis; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis / Q000379:methods; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000378:metabolism
D044842:Cullin Proteins; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; C100318:Cullin 1; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human