AIM: To study epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) in breast cancer,
molecules such as PRL-3, Snail, Cytokeratin and Vimentin involved in EMT
were evaluated.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, m-RNA expression of PRL3 and Snail by RT PCR, protein
expression of PRL-3, Snail, Cytokeratin and Vimentin by immunohistochemistry
were evaluated on paraffin-embedded tissue sections of 100 patients with
breast cancer.
RESULTS: PRL3 m-RNA expression (above cut off level > 2487301.00) and PRL-3 protein
expression was noted in 52% and 70% of breast carcinoma patients,
respectively. The higher incidence of PRL3 protein than m-RNA expression
could be due to post translation modification. Further, Snail m-RNA
expression (above cut off level > 1285142.00) and Snail protein expression
was noted in 53% and 54% of breast cancer patients respectively and
Snail protein expression was found significantly higher in patients with
pre-menopausal status. The loss of cytokeratin expression in 32% and gain
of vimentin expression in 17% was noted in these patients. Vimentin
expression was found significantly higher in patients with stage IV disease,
BR score 4 and PR negativity. In multivariate survival analysis, Vimentin
expression found as strong indicator of biologically aggressive breast
cancer predicting reduced disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival
(OS).
CONCLUSION: In our study reveals that Vimentin expression emerged as significant
biomarker for predicting reduced DFS and OS in breast cancer. The study
proposes routine evaluation of Vimentin with other predictive parameters can
allow use of EMT inhibitors with conventional therapy to revert EMT in
breast cancer.
