Title | Axl receptor tyrosine kinase expression in breast cancer. |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2014 |
Authors | D'Alfonso TM, Hannah J, Chen Z, Liu Y, Zhou P, Shin SJ |
Journal | J Clin Pathol |
Volume | 67 |
Issue | 8 |
Pagination | 690-6 |
Date Published | 2014 Aug |
ISSN | 1472-4146 |
Keywords | Biomarkers, Tumor, Breast Neoplasms, Cell Line, Tumor, Female, Humans, Immunohistochemistry, Proto-Oncogene Proteins, Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases, Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms |
Abstract | AIMS: Triple-negative breast cancer comprises a clinically aggressive group of invasive carcinomas. We examined a published gene expression screen of a panel of breast cancer cell lines to identify a potential triple-negative breast cancer-specific gene signature, and attempted to verify our findings by performing immunohistochemical analysis on tissue microarrays containing a large cohort of invasive breast carcinomas. METHODS: The microarray dataset for a panel of human breast cancer cell lines was interrogated for triple-negative breast cancer-specific genes. Membranous immunohistochemical expression of the protein product of the AXL gene was assessed semiquantitatively in 569 invasive breast carcinomas grouped according to molecular subgroup by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: AXL was significantly upregulated in triple-negative/basal B cell lines compared with luminal or basal A cell lines. No significant difference was observed in the level of immunohistochemical expression of Axl protein between triple-negative breast cancers and other molecular subgroups (p=0.257). Axl expression was significantly associated with lymphovascular invasion (LVI) in all subgroups combined (p=0.033), and within the luminal A (p=0.002) and triple-negative breast cancer subgroups (p=0.026). CONCLUSIONS: Despite preferential upregulation of AXL in triple-negative/basal B cell lines, analysis of Axl protein expression in a large series of patients' breast tumours revealed no association between Axl expression and triple-negative breast cancer or other subtype. The association of Axl expression with LVI supports previous work that implicates Axl as a promoter of invasiveness in breast cancer cell lines. Further studies are necessary to explore whether Axl expression of individual breast cancer tumours can be clinically useful. |
DOI | 10.1136/jclinpath-2013-202161 |
Alternate Journal | J Clin Pathol |
PubMed ID | 24904064 |
PubMed Central ID | PMC4549806 |
Grant List | 5R01 CA098210 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States 1R01 CA159925 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States |
Related Lab:
Related Faculty:
Pengbo Zhou, Ph.D.