[Expression levels of key components of the hedgehog pathway and an investigation of the correlation of this pathway with expression levels of claudin-1 in invasive breast carcinoma]

ABSTRACT

Objective: Breast cancer is considered a heterogeneous disease, characterized by different biological and phenotypic features which make its diagnosis and treatment challenging. We have sought to investigate the expression levels of key components of the Hedgehog signaling pathway, correlation between the signal transducer Smo, and clinicopathologic features [lymph node metastasis and metastasis stage] in invasive breast carcinoma. Also, we examined the inverse correlation between expression levels of Smo and Claudin-1 [an important gene involved in cell tight junctions]