Clinical significance of FoxP3 and the correlation of FoxP3 expression with epithelial-mesenchymal transition in breast cancer / 中国肿瘤临床

ABSTRACT

Objective: This study aims to investigate the correlation between the expression of FoxP3, TGF-β1, and epitheli-al-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in breast cancer and to determine the clinical significance of FoxP3. Methods: The expression of FoxP3, TGF-β1, E-Cadherin, N-Cadherin, Vimentin, and Fibronectin protein were detected in the cancer cells of 74 cases with breast carcinoma via immunohistochemistry. The correlation of FoxP3 protein with clinico-pathologic features of breast carcinoma and the re-lationships among the expressions of FoxP3, TGF-β1, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) were analyzed. Results:The ex-pression rates of FoxP3, TGF-β1, and EMT are 36.5%(27/74), 39.2%(29/74), and 40.5%(30/74), respectively. The FoxP3 protein ex-pression in breast cancer is correlated with lymph node metastasis (P0.05). The expression of FoxP3 is also correlated with the expression of TGF-β1. Furthermore, TGF-β1 can induce EMT (P<0.05). Conclu-sionThe expression of FoxP3 is correlated with lymph node metastasis and EMT in breast cancer. Therefore, FoxP3 may be a marker for predicting metastasis.