The expression of CXCR4 and its prognostic value in breast cancer / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the expression of chemokine receptor-4(CXCR4) in human breast cancer and its correlation with the prognostic factors.Methods Forty-four samples of breast cancer were collected from Sep.2004 to Jan.2006.The expressions of CXCR4 mRNA and protein were evaluated by RT-PCR and Western blotting respectively.The expressions of CXCR4,estrogen receptor(ER),progesterone receptor(PR) and C-erbB-2 were examined by immunohistochemical methods.The clinicopathological features,such as ages,menstrual status,lymph node metastasis,tumor size and histological grading were recorded and analyzed.The relationship between CXCR4 and the clinicopathological features was analyzed.Results The immunohistochemical staining showed that CXCR4 expressed mainly in cytoplasm and little in nuclei.CXCR4 mRNA and protein expressed differently in 44 samples of breast cancer,and the expressive level increased with the increase in metastatic lymph nodes number.Compared with axillary lymph nodes metastasis negative group,the expression of CXCR4 mRNA and protein increased significantly in ≥4 and 1-3 nodes metastasis groups(P0.05).Conclusion CXCR4 might play an important role in promoting the metastasis of breast cancer.