p16INK4a expression in basal-like breast carcinoma

International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology

Olga L Bohn¹ 

关键词: Breast cancer;    basal cancer;    immunohistochemistry;    HER2;    estrogen receptor;    progesterone receptor;    p16 INK4a;   

DOI  :  

学科分类：生理学与病理学

来源: e-Century Publishing Corporation

【 摘 要 】

BLBC represents a distinctive group of invasive breast carcinomas with specific genotype and immunopro-file. BLBC is usually defined by gene expression profiling and is currently associated with poor outcome. BLBCs are estrogen receptor (ER) negative, progesterone receptor (PgR) negative, HER2 negative, and usually show a variable expression of basal cytokeratins (CKs), EGFR and CD117. p16 INK4a is a tumor suppressor protein, encoded by the CDKN2A gene, which regulates cell cycle. The reported association of abnormalities in the p16/Rb pathway with increased risk of malignancy prompted us to determine the expression of p16INK4a in a group of BLBC; the results were compared with a group of high-grade invasive carcinoma (HG-IC) of breast. Tissue microarrays (TMA) were constructed in triplicate including 18 BLBC and 18 HG-IC. All BLBC cases were ER-/PgR-/HER2-. Seventeen (94%) BLBC were CK 5/6+/CK 14+; 14 (78%) BLCB showed EGFR expression and 13 (72%) were CD117 positive. BLBCs showed a strong positive reaction with p16 INK4a antibody in 16 of 18 (89%) cases. Although the significance of p16 INK4a expression in breast cancer is not fully understood, we have shown that p16INK4a is strongly expressed in breast cancers with basal-like phenotype. Since it is known that p16INK4a is associated with aggressive behavior in human carcinomas, these data suggest that p16INK4a play a role in the poor prognosis of BLBC.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC