The Expression Of KGF In Human Breast Cancer And Its Clinical Signifcance

Background: Keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) is a human mitogen that is specific for epithelial cells. It was identified in conditioned medium of a human embryonic lung fibroblast cell line by Rubin in 1989. The complementary DNA sequence of KGF demonstrates that it is a member of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family. It is also called FGF-7. KGF is present in stromal cells. It promotes epithelial cells mitotic division as a paracrine effector by specially binding with its high affinity receptor which is expressed on the surface of epithelial cells. The interaction of stromal and epithelial participate in the formulation and development of many tissues and organs, such as skin, gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract and reproduction system. The interaction of stroma and tumor cells acts as an important factor during the invasion, infiltration and metastasis. In recent years we focus on the relationship between KGF and tumor.Objective: To determine the expression of keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) in human breast cancer and normal breast tissue, to investigate its correlations with clinicopathological features and some biomarkers in human breast cancer, we carried out studies to approach the clinical significance of KGF.Methods: The expression of KGF in 63 cases of breast cancer and 30 cases of normal breast tissue were detected by immunohistochemistry. We also detect the expression of estrogen receptor, progestogen receptor, CerbB-2 and Ki-67 at the same time. The correlations of the expression of KGF in tumor cells and patient's age, tumor size, infiltration deep, lymphoid metastasis, TNM staging and some prognosis factors was analysised. The data was analysed with SPSS 12.0 for windows statistic software package.Results: Of the 63 cases of breast cancer, KGF was expressed in cytoplasm of tumor cells in 34 cases (54.0%). While it was not detected in epithelial cells in normal breast...