Do signal transduction cascades influence survival in triple-negative breast cancer? A preliminary study.
BACKGROUND
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a rather aggressive form of breast cancer, comprised by early metastasis formation and reduced overall survival of the affected patients. Steroid hormone receptors and the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 are not overexpressed, limiting therapeutic options. Therefore, new treatment options have to be investigated. The aim of our preliminary study was to detect coherences between some molecules of intracellular signal transduction pathways and survival of patients with TNBC, in order to obtain some hints for new therapeutical solutions.


METHODS
Thirty-one paraffin-embedded tumor tissue samples, which were determined to be negative for steroid hormone receptors as well as human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, were immunohistochemically stained for a number of signal transduction molecules from several signaling pathways. β-Catenin, HIF1α, MCL, Notch1, LRP6, XBP1, and FOXP3 were stained with specific antibodies, and their staining was correlated with patient survival by Kaplan-Meier analyses.


RESULTS
Only two of the investigated molecules have shown correlation with overall survival. Cytoplasmic staining of HIF1α and centro-tumoral lymphocyte FOXP3 staining showed statistically significant correlations with survival.


CONCLUSIONS
The coherence of signal transduction molecules with survival of patients with TNBC is still controversially discussed in the literature. Our study comprises one more mosaic stone in the elucidation of these intracellular processes and their influences on patient outcome. Lots of research still has to be done in this field, but it would be worthwhile as it may offer new therapeutic targets for a group of patients with breast cancer, which is still hard to treat.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Jan-Niclas
JN
Mumm
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Alexandra C
AC
Kölbl
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Udo
U
Jeschke
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Ulrich
U
Andergassen
Kaplan–Meier analysis; immunohistochemistry; signal transduction cascades