title: Heat shock protein 27 and gross cystic disease fluid protein 15 play critical roles in molecular apocrine breast cancer.
abstract: Molecular apocrine breast cancer (MABC) has a distinct hormonal profile, being estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) negative but androgen receptor (AR) positive. The clinical significance of MABC and its relative variables have not been absolutely clarified and remain to be determined. Five hundred cases of invasive breast carcinoma were randomly selected in this study, including 158 MABC cases and 342 nonMABC cases. Expression of ER, PR, epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), Ki67, AR, gross cystic disease fluid protein 15 (GCDFP15), and heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Differences of continuous variables between MABC and nonMABC subgroups were evaluated by the chi-square test. The Kaplan-Meier method was performed to evaluate disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). The MABC subgroup had higher histological grade, bigger tumor size, more lymph node metastasis, and higher pTNM stage than the nonMABC subgroup (P < 0.05), and patients with MABC had poorer prognosis than those of the nonMABC subgroup (P < 0.05). Both GCDFP15 and HSP27 were expressed differently in the MABC and nonMABC subgroups (P < 0.05). Furthermore, in the MABC subgroup, positive HSP27 expression indicated higher risk of recurrence (P < 0.05) and positive GCDFP15 expression was also a poor marker for patient outcome (P < 0.05). MABC patients with HSP27 and GCDFP15 co-expression had worse outcome (P < 0.05). Our data suggested that MABC had a high risk of recurrence. Positive expression of both GCDFP15 and HSP27 were correlated with MABC malignancy. Targeting AR and HSP27 at the same time might offer a useful strategy to MABC.
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy of Tianjin, Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin Medical University, Ministry of Education, West Huanhu Road, Ti Yuan Bei, Hexi District, Tianjin, 300060, China.
authors.forename: Xiaozhen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Maternal and Child Health Hospital, North China University of Science and Technology, 14, Jianshe-South Road, Lubei District, Tangshan, 063000, China.
authors.forename: Changyun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy of Tianjin, Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin Medical University, Ministry of Education, West Huanhu Road, Ti Yuan Bei, Hexi District, Tianjin, 300060, China.
authors.forename: Junjun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy of Tianjin, Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin Medical University, Ministry of Education, West Huanhu Road, Ti Yuan Bei, Hexi District, Tianjin, 300060, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy of Tianjin, Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin Medical University, Ministry of Education, West Huanhu Road, Ti Yuan Bei, Hexi District, Tianjin, 300060, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy of Tianjin, Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin Medical University, Ministry of Education, West Huanhu Road, Ti Yuan Bei, Hexi District, Tianjin, 300060, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Baodi Clinical Institute of Tianjin Medical University, 8, Guang-Chuan Road, Baodi District, Tianjin, 301800, China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy of Tianjin, Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin Medical University, Ministry of Education, West Huanhu Road, Ti Yuan Bei, Hexi District, Tianjin, 300060, China. yunniu2000@126.com.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Niu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001050:Apocrine Glands / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000378:metabolism / Q000556:secondary*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D055551:HSP27 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D008875:Middle Aged; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000378:metabolism; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D066246:ErbB Receptors; D006023:Glycoproteins; D055551:HSP27 Heat-Shock Proteins; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; C057725:HSPB1 protein, human; C488892:PIP protein, human; C512478:EGFR protein, human
keywords: Androgen receptor; Breast cancer; Gross cystic disease fluid protein 15; Heat shock protein 27; Molecular apocrine subgroup