ABSTRACT
Objective: to evaluate the expression of C-erbB-2, TGF-beta1 in serum samples of breast cancer patients as compared to benign and control groups. Also to evaluate the expression of MDR-1 and maspin genes in breast cancer tissues as well as in benign breast diseases using PCR techniques
Settings: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, and Surgery Department, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University
Subjects and Methods: in the present study, the expression of MDR-1 [multidrug resistance] gene and maspin [mammary serine protease inhibitor] gene were detected in breast cancer tissue as well as in benign breast diseases using PCR techniques. Serum C-erbB-2 and TGF-beta1 levels were also measured by ELISA techniques. Study groups comprised 19 healthy women; 20 benign breast disease patients and 41 breast cancer patients. Relation between different prognostic association and correlation between different studied parameters were assessed
Results: in the present work, the mean serum level of C-erbB-2 was significantly elevated while that of TGF-beta1 was significantly decreased in breast cancer patients as compared to normal healthy and benign groups. Significant negative correlation between serum C-erbB-2 and serum TGF-beta1 has been observed in the breast cancer patients. Statistical analysis by the Chi-square test showed that MDR-1gene was present more frequently in breast cancer group [51.2%] than in benign group [11%], while maspin gene was present more frequently in benign group [77.8%] than in breast cancer group [26.88]. Moreover, maspin gene expression showed an inverse relationship to histological grades and clinical stages of breast cancer. This indicates that the expression of maspin in breast tumor cells limits their growth and metastasis
Conclusions: our results showed that serum levels of C-erbB-2 were significantly higher in MDR-1 positive and maspin-negative tumors while serum levels of TGF-beta1 were significantly higher in maspin positive tumors only. In addition, we have found that the possibility of maspin positive tumors was more significantly frequent in MDR-1 negative tumors in breast cancer patients. Evaluation of these factors may improve the ability to identify and select breast cancer patients at high risk for poor prognosis and aggressive treatment and also it may have important implication concerning the overall biology of the breast