title: Relationship of RhoA signaling activity with ezrin expression and its significance in the prognosis for breast cancer patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We have recently reported that RhoA may regulate the invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cells as an upstream signal of ezrin in vitro. In this study, we examined the relationship of RhoA signaling activity with ezrin expression in breast cancer and its prognostic significance in patients with breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Paraffin tumor sections of breast cancer were collected retrospectively from 487 patients diagnosed between 2001 and 2004. Immunohistochemical methods were used to detect the expression of RhoA, phosphorylated (activated) RhoA, and ezrin.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ezrin overexpression was detectable in 15.2% of 487 invasive breast cancers. The majority (85.1%) of ezrin-overexpressing tumors coexpressed phosphorylated RhoA; 78.8% of tumors with phosphorylated RhoA cooverexpressed ezrin. Patients whose cancers showed overexpression of ezrin or expression of phosphorylated RhoA had shorter survival rates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  RhoA activation is important in human breast cancer due to its upregulation of ezrin; thus, agents that target phosphorylated RhoA may be useful in the treatment of tumors with ezrin overexpression.
authors: Breast Center, the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050011, China.
authors: Li
authors: L
authors: Ma
authors: Yue-Ping
authors: YP
authors: Liu
authors: Xiang-Hong
authors: XH
authors: Zhang
authors: Cui-Zhi
authors: CZ
authors: Geng
authors: Zeng-Huai
authors: ZH
authors: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000401:mortality*; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D015996:Survival Rate; D020742:rhoA GTP-Binding Protein / Q000032:analysis / Q000502:physiology*; D000099149:Ezrin
chemical_list: D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D020742:rhoA GTP-Binding Protein; D000099149:Ezrin; C066737:RHOA protein, human