Impact of Expression of Vimentin and Axl in Breast Cancer

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• 作者：Kimihiro Tanaka¹ ; Eriko Tokunaga¹ ; ⁴ ; ^{eriko@surg2.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author} ; Yuka Inoue¹ ; Nami Yamashita¹ ; Hiroshi Saeki¹ ; Shinji Okano¹ ; Hiroyuki Kitao² ; Eiji Oki¹ ; Yoshinao Oda³ ; Yoshihiko Maehara¹
• 关键词：Axl ; Prognostic factor ; Survival ; Triple-negative breast cancer ; Vimentin
• 刊名：Clinical Breast Cancer
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：December 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：16
• 期：6
• 页码：520-526.e2
• 全文大小：1324 K

文摘

The association between Axl and vimentin protein expression has been observed in several cell lines. However, the clinical importance of Axl and vimentin expression in breast cancer have not been fully determined.

Patients and Methods

The expressions of Axl and vimentin were evaluated by immunohistochemistry in a total of 343 patients with invasive ductal carcinoma. The relationships between expression of Axl and vimentin and clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis were analyzed.

Results

Axl expression was classified into high (n = 170) and low (n = 173) expression groups. Axl expression alone was not associated with any clinicopathologic factor or prognosis. Coexistence of vimentin-positive and Axl-high expression was observed in 10.5% (n = 36). Vimentin-positive and Axl-high tumors were associated with triple-negative breast cancers (P = .0396) and with poor prognosis in terms of both recurrence-free survival (P = .0126) and overall survival (P = .0005) compared to the other groups, including vimentin-positive and Axl-low tumors, vimentin-negative and Axl-high tumors, and vimentin-negative and Axl-low tumors. Multivariate analysis showed that coexistence of vimentin-positive and Axl-high expression was an independent poor prognostic factor for recurrence-free survival (hazard ratio, 2.78; 95% confidence interval, 1.23-5.68; P = .0158) and overall survival (hazard ratio, 3.72; 95% confidence interval, 1.51-8.47; P = .0059).

Conclusion

Coexistence of vimentin-positive and Axl-high expression is a poor prognostic factor for primary breast cancer. Vimentin and Axl expression might contribute to the aggressive phenotype in breast cancer.