title: PAX6 overexpression is associated with the poor prognosis of invasive ductal breast cancer.
abstract: Paired box 6 (PAX6) plays a significant role in the development of human neuroectodermal epithelial tissues. Previous studies have suggested that the PAX6 promoter is hypermethylated in breast cancer and that it is involved in breast cancer cell proliferation. The present study aimed to investigate the expression of PAX6 in invasive breast cancer tissues, and to evaluate its prognostic significance. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to detect PAX6 expression on a breast cancer tissue microarray containing tissues from 111 patients. Associations of PAX6 expression with staging and prognosis were analyzed. PAX6 was mainly expressed in the nucleus. The PAX6 staining intensity was not associated with age, histological grade, lymph node status, tumor size, or progesterone receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 expression (all P>0.05). A high level of PAX6 staining was more frequent in estrogen receptor (ER)-negative cases compared with ER-positive cases (43.9 vs. 25.7%; P=0.049). After a median follow-up time of 110 months, the patients with low PAX6 expression exhibited an improved survival rate compared with the patients with high PAX6 expression (P<0.001). Cox analysis showed a worse survival rate in the patients with high PAX6 staining (hazard ratio, 3.458; 95% confidence interval, 1.575-7.593; P=0.002). In conclusion, high tumor PAX6 staining intensity by IHC was associated with a poor prognosis in breast cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Surgery, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xianghou
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wenjuan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Surgery, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Surgery, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xingfei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Surgery, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Zhejiang Cancer Research Institute, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shenhua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Surgery, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Weiliang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Surgery, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, P.R. China ; Department of Surgical Oncology, School of the First Clinical Medical Sciences, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Hongjian
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
keywords: breast cancer; estrogen receptor; human epidermal growth factor receptor 2; paired box 6; progesterone receptor; prognosis