title: Overexpression of L1 cell adhesion molecule correlates with aggressive tumor progression of patients with breast cancer and promotes motility of breast cancer cells.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1CAM) has been observed to be aberrantly expressed and implicated in progression of several types of human cancers. However, its roles in breast cancer have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we aimed to investigate the clinical significance of L1CAM in human breast cancer and to validate whether it participates in cancer cell migration and invasion.
  
  
  METHODS
  Immunohistochemical analysis of 100 breast cancer and matched non-cancerous breast tissues was performed to detect the expression and sub-cellular localization of L1CAM protein. Its associations with clinicopathological characteristics of breast cancer patients were statistically analyzed and its phenotypic effects were also evaluated in vitro.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 100 breast cancer patients, 89 (89.0%) were positive for L1CAM immunostaining localized in the membrane of cancer cells. The immunoreactive scores of L1CAM protein in breast cancer tissues were significantly higher than those in matched non-cancerous breast tissues (P<0.05). Chi-Square analysis showed the significant associations between L1CAM overexpression and high tumor stage (P=0.01), advanced tumor grade (P=0.03), positive lymph node metastasis (P=0.01) and tumor recurrence (P=0.01) in breast cancer patients. Moreover, we found that RNA interference-mediated knockdown of L1CAM could inhibit the migration and invasion abilities of breast cancer cells in vitro.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that the overexpression of L1CAM may be related to several established markers of poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. L1CAM might be a potential therapeutic target against metastatic breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Nanjing Medical University Affiliated Jiangsu Cancer Hospital Nanjing 210009, China ; Department of General Surgery, Huai'an First People's Hospital, Nanjing Medical University Huai'an, Jiangsu 223300, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Huai'an Second People's Hospital Huai'an, Jiangsu 223002, China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The People's Hospital of Hong'ze County Hong'ze, Jiangsu 223100, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Huai'an First People's Hospital, Nanjing Medical University Huai'an, Jiangsu 223300, China.
authors.forename: Linlin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhen
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Huai'an First People's Hospital, Nanjing Medical University Huai'an, Jiangsu 223300, China.
authors.forename: Xuedong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, 82 Hospital of PLA Huai'an, Jiangsu 223001, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Nanjing Medical University Affiliated Jiangsu Cancer Hospital Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Jinhai
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000502:physiology; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology*; D039842:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule L1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D011379:Prognosis; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D039842:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule L1; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering
keywords: L1 cell adhesion molecule; breast cancer; clinicopathological characteristic; invasion; migration