The Expression Of Progranulin And Its Clinical Significance In Breast Carcinoma With Different Intrinsic Subtypes

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the progranulin expression profiles in different intrinsic subtypes of breast carcinomas and their relevance to clinicopathological and histopathological features.MethodsTissue blocks containing264cases of breast carcinomas from2006to2009were classified as different intrinsic subtypes. Tissues of four molecular subtypes were immunostained for progranulin, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), CD105, including20tissues from breast fibroadenomas selected as controls. Their relevance to clinicopathological and histopathological features was also analyzed with statistical methods finally.ResultsProgranulin expression showed no significant differences in different intrinsic subtypes, although an increasing tendency could be found in the triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subgroup (χ2=5.00, df=3, P=0.17). However, differences were significant when pathologically node metastasis-positive (pN+) TNBC were excluded (χ2=17.84, df=3, P<0.01). Some clinicopathological parameters, including CK5/6(χ2=0.08, df=3, P=0.78), E-cadherin (χ2=0.71, df=3, P=0.40) and P53(χ2=0.05, df=3, P=0.83), displayed no correlation with activity of progranulin in pathologically node metastasis-negative (pN") TNBC. It was noted that the EGFR expression difference of the pN-TNBC subtype was significant between the strong and the weak progranulin expression group(χ2=11.26, df=1, P<0.01).ConclusionA significantly higher expression level of progranulin in pN-TNBC suggests that progranulin is a promising new target for pN-TNBC treatment. Strong expression of progranulin correlates with positive EGFR expression in the pN" TNBC subtype. The close relationship between EGFR and progranulin/VEGF/CD105expression may partly play a role in high angiogenesis levels in the pN-TNBC subtype.