Correlation between expression of centromere protein K and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in triple-negative breast cancer and its clinical significance / 肿瘤研究与临床

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the correlation of centromere protein K (CENPK) expression in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) with epithelial-mesenchymal transformation (EMT) and its clinical significance.Methods:Immunohisochemical SABC method was used to detect the expressions of CENPK and EMT-related proteins (E-cadherin, Vimentin and N-cadherin) in 69 specimens of TNBC and cancer-adjacent tissues collected from patients in Binzhou People's Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University from January 2015 to December 2018. The correlations of CENPK expression with clinicopathological characteristics of patients and expressions of EMT-related proteins were analyzed.Results:The positive expression rates of CENPK in TNBC and cancer-adjacent tissues were 72.46% (50/69) and 14.49% (10/69), respectively, and the difference was statistically significant ( χ2 = 47.18, P<0.001). The CENPK expression in TNBC was related to pathological grade, clinical stage and lymphatic metastasis (all P<0.05). The CENPK expression in TNBC was negatively correlated with E-cadherin expression ( r = -0.447, P<0.01), but positively correlated with Vimentin and N-cadherin expressions ( r values were 0.503 and 0.415, both P<0.01). The median overall survival time of CENPK high-expression group was 24 months (95% CI 10-39 months), while that of CENPK low-expression group was 42 months (95% CI 19-50 months). The difference in overall survival between the two groups was statistically significant ( χ2 = 7.36, P = 0.016). Conclusions:CENPK may be involved in the occurrence and development of TNBC through EMT, and the expression of CENPK may be related to the prognosis of patients.