Blockade of estrogen-stimulated proliferation by a constitutively-active prolactin receptor having lower expression in invasive ductal carcinoma

Development and verification of a personalized immune prognostic feature in breast cancer

IMPACT STATEMENT

Breast cancer is among the highest prevalent malignant tumors worldwide with a low survival ratio. Immune-related genes have great potential as prognostic indicator in many types of tumors. Therefore, we have attempted to develop immune-related gene markers to enhance the prognosis of breast cancer. 17-IRGPs signature was constructed as a newly developed prognostic indicator to predict the survival of BC patients.

Prolactin receptor in breast cancer: marker for metastatic risk

Prolactin and prolactin receptor signaling and function are complex in nature and intricate in function. Basic, pre-clinical and translational research has opened up our eyes to the understanding that prolactin and prolactin receptor signaling function differently within different cellular contexts and microenvironmental conditions. Its multiple roles in normal physiology are subverted in cancer initiation and progression, and gradually we are teasing out the intricacies of function and therapeutic value. Recently, we observed that prolactin has a role in accelerating the time to bone metastasis in breast cancer patients and identified the mechanism by which prolactin stimulated breast cancer cell-mediated lytic osteoclast formation. The possibility that the prolactin receptor is a marker for metastasis, and specifically bone metastasis, is one that may have to be put into the context of the different variants of prolactin, different prolactin receptor isoforms and intricate signaling pathways that are regulated by the microenvironment. The more complete the picture, the better one can test biomarker identity and design clinical trials to test therapeutic intervention. This review will cover the recent advances and highlight the complexity of prolactin receptor biology.

Biomarker discovery to improve prediction of breast cancer survival: using gene expression profiling, meta-analysis, and tissue validation

Purpose

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide in women. The molecular mechanism for human breast cancer is unknown. Gene microarray has been widely used in breast cancer research to identify clinically relevant molecular subtypes as well as to predict prognosis survival. So far, the valuable multigene signatures in clinical practice are unclear, and the biological importance of individual genes is difficult to detect, as the described signatures virtually do not overlap. Early prognosis of this disease, breast invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) and breast ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), is vital in breast surgery.

Methods

Thus, this study reports gene expression profiling in large breast cancer cohorts from Gene Expression Omnibus, including GSE29044 (N=138) and GSE10780 (N=185) test series and four independent validation series GSE21653 (N=266), GSE20685 (N=327), GSE26971 (N=276), and GSE12776 (N=204). Significantly differentially expressed genes in human breast IDC and breast DCIS were detected by transcriptome microarray analysis.

Results

We created a set of three genes (MAMDC2, TSHZ2, and CLDN11) that were significantly correlated with disease-free survival of breast cancer patients using a univariate Cox regression model (significance level P<0.01) in a meta-analysis. Based on the risk score of the three genes, the test series patients could be separated into low-risk and high-risk groups with significantly different survival times. This signature was validated in the other three cohorts. The prognostic value of this three-gene signature was confirmed in the internal validation series and another four independent breast cancer data sets. The prognostic impact of one of the three genes, CLDN11, was confirmed by immunohistochemistry. CLDN11 was significantly overexpressed in human breast IDC as compared with normal breast tissues and breast DCIS.

Conclusion

Using novel gene expression profiling together with a meta-analysis validation approach, we have identified a three-gene signature with independent prognostic impact. Furthermore, CLDN11 may offer a biomarker to predict prognosis as well as a new target for prognostic and therapeutic intervention for human breast IDC.