Mohsen Soosanabadi1, Arezoo Mosharraf Ghahfarokhi2, Farzad Pourghazi3, Naeim Ehtesham1, Reza Mirfakhraie4, Lilit Atanesyan5, Elahe Keyhani6, Farkhondeh Behjati7,8,9. 1. Department of Medical Genetics, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran. 2. Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences and Technology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran. 3. Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran. 4. Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 5. MRC-Holland BV, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 6. Clinical Research Development Center of Rofeideh Rehabilitation Hospital, Tehran, Iran. keyhani.e@yahoo.com. 7. Genetics Research Center, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran. fa.behjatii@gmail.com. 8. Sarem Fertility & Infertility Research Center (SAFIR), Sarem Women's Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), Tehran, Iran. fa.behjatii@gmail.com. 9. Sarem Cell Research Center (SCRC), Sarem Women's Hospital, Tehran, Iran. fa.behjatii@gmail.com.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Breast cancer (BC) is the most prevalent and fatal cancer in women. Given that there are very few studies investigating the overexpression of four members of ERBB genes, we decided to investigate the correlation between these four genes with clinicopathological characteristics in breast cancer cases. METHODS: Tumoural tissue of 50 patients with sporadic invasive ductal BC was recruited. Also, control samples were provided from adjacent non-cancerous tissues (ANCTs) of the same patients. The expression of four ERBB genes was evaluated by real-time PCR and its correlation with clinicopathological characteristics was assessed. RESULTS: Only ERBB2 (HER2) was overexpressed in tumoural tissue compared with ANCTs. Our data showed a significant relationship between ERBB1 overexpression with triple-negative tumors, ER, and PR negativity (P < 0.05). Also, ERBB2 overexpression indicated a significant correlation with several pathological characteristics such as age < 50, tumor size larger than 2 cm, early and advanced stages, negative involved lymph nodes, luminal B, triple-negative, ERBB2-enrich, estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) negative tumors, Ki-67 mutation more than 15%, and finally HER2/neu immunohistochemistry (IHC) positive and intermediate (P < 0.05). Moreover, this study demonstrated that ERBB4 overexpression had a significant correlation with tumor size smaller than 2 cm, grade I and II tumors (early-stage tumors), luminal A, ER and PR positive tumors, HER-2/neu IHC intermediate, and tumors that had a Ki-67 mutation lower than 15% (P < 0.05). Besides, our analysis showed a significant correlation between the expression of ERBB1 with ERBB2 and ERBB3 with ERBB4 (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings showed a significant relationship between unfavorable clinicopathological characteristics with ERBB1 and ERBB2 overexpression, but overexpression of ERBB4 was correlated with favorable outcomes.
BACKGROUND: Breast cancer (BC) is the most prevalent and fatal cancer in women. Given that there are very few studies investigating the overexpression of four members of ERBB genes, we decided to investigate the correlation between these four genes with clinicopathological characteristics in breast cancer cases. METHODS: Tumoural tissue of 50 patients with sporadic invasive ductal BC was recruited. Also, control samples were provided from adjacent non-cancerous tissues (ANCTs) of the same patients. The expression of four ERBB genes was evaluated by real-time PCR and its correlation with clinicopathological characteristics was assessed. RESULTS: Only ERBB2 (HER2) was overexpressed in tumoural tissue compared with ANCTs. Our data showed a significant relationship between ERBB1 overexpression with triple-negative tumors, ER, and PR negativity (P < 0.05). Also, ERBB2 overexpression indicated a significant correlation with several pathological characteristics such as age < 50, tumor size larger than 2 cm, early and advanced stages, negative involved lymph nodes, luminal B, triple-negative, ERBB2-enrich, estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) negative tumors, Ki-67 mutation more than 15%, and finally HER2/neu immunohistochemistry (IHC) positive and intermediate (P < 0.05). Moreover, this study demonstrated that ERBB4 overexpression had a significant correlation with tumor size smaller than 2 cm, grade I and II tumors (early-stage tumors), luminal A, ER and PR positive tumors, HER-2/neu IHC intermediate, and tumors that had a Ki-67 mutation lower than 15% (P < 0.05). Besides, our analysis showed a significant correlation between the expression of ERBB1 with ERBB2 and ERBB3 with ERBB4 (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings showed a significant relationship between unfavorable clinicopathological characteristics with ERBB1 and ERBB2 overexpression, but overexpression of ERBB4 was correlated with favorable outcomes.