title: Neogenin expression is inversely associated with breast cancer grade in ex vivo.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Neogenin is closely related to the human tumor suppressor gene deleted in colorectal cancer and plays a role in mammary morphogenesis. This study aimed to assess neogenin expression in breast cancer for any clinically significant association.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 54 breast cancer patients who underwent modified radical mastectomy were enrolled for immunohistochemical and quantitative real-time PCR analysis of neogenin expression in their cancerous breast tissues in comparison to matching distant non-cancerous tissues.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The data showed that the neogenin protein was either strongly or moderately expressed in the cytoplasm of the distant non-cancerous cells. In contrast, neogenin protein was either weakly or not expressed in the cytoplasm of 51/54 (94.4%) breast cancer cells, among which 13 breast cancer cases did not express neogenin protein at all (13/54, 24.1%). Similarly, levels of neogenin mRNA were significantly lower in breast cancer tissues than that of the matched distant non-cancerous tissues (51/54, 94.4%). Neogenin expression was inversely associated with breast cancer grade; that is, grade III breast cancer expressed much less neogenin than grade I-II (P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study indicates that neogenin expression in breast cancer tissues is inversely associated with tumor grade.
authors.forename: Wanying
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Rangjuan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Surgery, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130033, China. eryaoqi@126.com.
authors.forename: Zheli
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001940:Breast / Q000378:metabolism*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008408:Mastectomy; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C091279:neogenin