title: Clinical Implications of TβRII Expression in Breast Cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the relationship between TβRII [type II TGFβ (transforming growth factor β) receptor] expression and clinicopathological characteristics, and to evaluate the prognostic significance of TβRII expression in breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Clinicopathological data and prognostic information of 108 patients with histologically confirmed breast cancer who were surgically treated at China Medical University between January 2007 and September 2008 were reviewed and the association between the clinicopathological characteristics and TβRII expression was analyzed by chi-square test and multivariate analysis. The expression of TβRII was assessed by immunohistochemistry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 108 patients, 60 cases were TβRII positive and 48 cases were negative. There was no significant association between TβRII expression of the patients older than 40 years and that of the younger than 40 years (56.0% vs 50.0%; P = 0.742). The TβRII expression rate was significantly increased in patients with lymph node metastasis compared to those without lymph node metastasis (67.40% vs 46.8%; P = 0.033). Statistically significant relationships were found between increasing tumor clinical stage and high TβRII expression (P = 0.011). TβRII expression was not associated with the expression of ER(estrogen receptor), PR, (progesterone receptor), Her-2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) (P = 0.925,P = 0.861, and P = 0.840, respectively). Patients with high TβRII expression showed poorer 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) compared to those with low expression (66.7% vs 45.6%; P = 0.028) by univariate analysis. Survival analysis demonstrated that TβRII was associated with poor DFS (P = 0.011). Subgroup analysis revealed that TβRII expression was associated with shorter DFS in patients with lymph node metastasis, ER-positive, PR-positive or Her-2-negative tumors (P = 0.006, P = 0.016, P = 0.022, and P = 0.033, respectively). Cox regression analysis revealed that high TβRII expression was related to poor 5-year DFS, and it was an independent factor for predicting the poor outcome for breast cancer patients (P = 0.016).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High levels of TβRII expression were associated with lymph node metastasis, increasing tumor clinical stage, and poorer 5-year DFS in patients with breast cancer. TβRII may be a potential prognostic marker for breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Ultrasonic Diagnosis Department, First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Ningning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Ultrasonic Diagnosis Department, First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Qixi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.affiliation: Ultrasonic Diagnosis Department, First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Yinyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Ultrasonic Diagnosis Department, First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Ultrasonic Diagnosis Department, First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Donglin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bian
authors.affiliation: Ultrasonic Diagnosis Department, First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Xuemei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Surgery, Second Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Caigang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Surgery, Liaoning Province Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Surgery, Liaoning Province Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Teng
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D000077294:Receptor, Transforming Growth Factor-beta Type II; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000378:metabolism; D018125:Receptors, Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D000077294:Receptor, Transforming Growth Factor-beta Type II; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; D018125:Receptors, Transforming Growth Factor beta; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human