title: Enrichment of CD44 in basal-type breast cancer correlates with EMT, cancer stem cell gene profile, and prognosis.
abstract: Cluster of differentiation 44 (CD44) is a transmembrane glycoprotein that serves as the receptor for the extracellular matrix component hyaluronic acid. CD44 has been reported to play key roles in cell proliferation, motility, and survival, but its role in breast cancer remains controversial. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis. A total of 23 published Gene Expression Omnibus databases were included to evaluate the association between CD44 mRNA expression and clinicopathological characteristics or prognosis of the patients with breast cancer. Our analysis revealed that CD44 expression was associated with clinicopathological features, including the histological grade, estrogen receptor status, progesterone receptor status, and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 status. Higher levels of CD44 expression were observed in the basal subtype of breast cancer both at the mRNA and protein levels (odds ratio [OR] =2.08, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.72-2.52; OR =2.11, 95% CI: 1.67-2.68). Patients with CD44 overexpression exhibited significantly worse overall survival (hazard ratio =1.27; 95% CI: 1.04-1.55). Whole gene profile analysis revealed that CD44 expression was enriched in basal-type breast cancer and correlated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer stem cell gene profiles. In summary, our analyses indicated that CD44 potentially might be a prognostic marker for breast cancer and thus can serve as a therapeutic target for basal-type breast cancer.
authors: Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors: Hanxiao
authors: H
authors: Xu
authors: Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors: Yijun
authors: Y
authors: Tian
authors: Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors: Xun
authors: X
authors: Yuan
authors: Department of Geriatrics, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors: Yu
authors: Y
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors: Hua
authors: H
authors: Wu
authors: Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors: Qian
authors: Q
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Oncology, Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA; Department of Pathology, Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA.
authors: Gen Sheng
authors: GS
authors: Wu
authors: Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors: Kongming
authors: K
authors: Wu
keywords: CD44; biomarker; breast cancer; meta-analysis; survival prediction