RESUMO
Objective To study the expressions and clinical significances of activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) and Runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) in breast carcinoma tissues.Methods The expressions of ATF3 and Runx2 were detected in 105 cases of primary breast invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) and their matched para-tumor breast tissues by immunohistochemistry.The relationships between the two transcription factors and the clinical pathological features of IDC patients were analyzed.Results The positive expression rates of ATF3 and Runx2 in IDC group were 80.95％ (85/105) and 69.52％ (73/105) respectively,much higher than those in para-tumor breast tissues 11.43 ％ (12/105) and 8.57％ (9/105),with statistically significant differences (x2 =102.097,P =0.000;x2 =11.595,P =0.001).ATF3 and Runx2 expressions showed significant relationships with histological grade (x2 =14.623,P =0.001;x2 =24.891,P =0.000),lymph node metastasis (x2 =7.059,P =0.008;x2 =6.358,P =0.012) and pTNM stage of IDC (x2 =5.807,P =0.016;x2 =4.902,P =0.027),while both were not correlated with patients' age (x2 =0.274,P =0.601;x2 =1.554,P =0.213) and tumor size (x2 =2.476,P =0.290;x2 =5.261,P =0.072).There was a significant positive relationship between ATF3 and Runx2 in breast carcinoma (C =0.498,P =0.000).Conclusion The over-expressions of ATF3 and Runx2 may participate in the tumorigenesis,invasion,metastasis and clinical stage of breast carcinoma,which suggests that they may be key factors to evaluate malignant degree and prognosis of breast carcinoma.