T-box transcription factor 21 expression in breast cancer and its relationship with prognosis.
OBJECTIVE
T-box transcription factor 21 (T-bet) is a key lineage-defining transcription factor. The purpose of this study was to verify the relationship between expression in primary tumors and prognosis of breast cancer.


METHODS
T-protein expression was immunohistochemically detected on surgically-obtained tumor samples of 130 (stage I-III) invasive breast carcinomas from Chinese subjects, who were followed up for a mean time of 112 months.


RESULTS
T-bet was expressed in the nuclei and cytoplasm of both tumor cells and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. In LOG-RANK analysis, higher density of interstitial T-bet+ interstitial lymphocytes was related with longer distant disease-free survival (DDFS) (P = 0.047); higher tumor nuclei T-bet expression was related with shorter DFS (P = 0.021) and DDFS (P = 0.026). Cox multivariate analysis showed that density of interstitial T-bet+ interstitial lymphocytes was an independent positive prognostic factor for DFS (HR = 0.474, P = 0.051) and DDFS (HR = 0.414, P = 0.030); tumor nuclei CTLA-4 expression was an independent adverse prognostic factor for DFS (HR = 3.007, P = 0.003), DDFS (HR = 2.931, P = 0.005) and OS (HR = 2.352, P = 0.029).


CONCLUSIONS
This study found that, high tumor nuclei T-bet expression in primary tumors of breast cancer was correlated with poor prognosis and high density of T-bet+ interstitial lymphocytes in primary tumors of breast cancer were correlated with favorable prognosis.
Department of Medical Oncology, General Hospital of PLA Beijing, China.
Haiming
H
Yu
Department of Medical Oncology, General Hospital of PLA Beijing, China.
Junlan
J
Yang
Department of Medical Oncology, General Hospital of PLA Beijing, China.
Shunchang
S
Jiao
Department of Medical Oncology, General Hospital of PLA Beijing, China.
Ying
Y
Li
Department of Pathology, 401 Hospital of PLA Qingdao, China.
Wei
W
Zhang
Department of General Surgery, General Hospital of PLA Beijing, China.
Jiandong
J
Wang
D044466:Asian People; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D060908:CTLA-4 Antigen / Q000032:analysis; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000737:chemistry*; D002681:China; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D016246:Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D000098815:T-bet Transcription Factor
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D060908:CTLA-4 Antigen; C556706:CTLA4 protein, human; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins; D000098815:T-bet Transcription Factor
T-box transcription factor 21; breast cancer; disease-free survival; distant disease-free survival; overall survival