These frequencies were not significantly different from those in breast cancers without TARBP2 overexpression (n= 140, P= 0
These frequencies were not significantly different from those in breast cancers without TARBP2 overexpression (n= 140, P= 0. 151) (Table 5). had unfavorable prognoses. Pamabrom Although reduced ZNF395 expression was significantly related to reduced lymph node metastasis, further studies are needed to clarify the role of TARBP2/APP/ZNF395 in breast cancer. Keywords: breast cancer, metastasis, TARBP2, amyloid precursor protein, ZNF395, immunohistochemistry == Introduction == Breast cancer is the most common invasive cancer in women worldwide. 1Despite earlier diagnosis and the development of various treatments, such as chemotherapy, radiation, and hormonal and molecularly targeted therapies, the prognosis of breast cancer patients with distant metastasis remains poor. Cancer metastasis involves a multistep process in which cell populations with enhanced metastatic capacity initiate specific molecular mechanisms, which in turn modulate gene expression levels. 2The systematic characterization of metastasis-suppressive and metastasis-promoting microR-NAs has highlighted the potential role of posttranscriptional regulatory mechanisms in cancer metastasis. 3, 4TARBP2 is a double-stranded RNA-binding protein implicated in microRNA processing. Goodarzi et al5recently showed that TARBP2 was overexpressed in breast cancer cells and acted as an upstream regulator of tumor suppressor genes. The authors identified two transcripts that were directly bound by TARBP2, with potential roles in suppressing metastatic progression in human breast cancer. Both the following genes were related to neurodegeneration: the amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene encodes a protein linked to Alzheimers disease andZNF395is associated with Huntingtons disease. 5Using lung colonization assays in mice, the authors showed that TARBP2 played a direct role in promoting metastasis by destabilizingAPPandZNF395. They also found that patients with primary breast tumors with reduced expression levels ofAPPandZNF395had significantly lower survival rates than those with primary breast tumors with higher levels ofAPPandZNF395. 5 Despite these initial findings by Goodarzi et al, subsequent reports have provided conflicting results regarding the tumor promoter or suppressor roles of TARBP2, APP, and ZNF395. Overexpression of TARBP2 has been shown in many cancers, such as breast carcinoma, prostate carcinoma, and malignant lymphoma, but its downregulation has also been noted in some tumors, including colorectal and urothelial carcinomas. 6In contrast to the results of Goodarzi et al, Takagi et al7showed a significant link between increased APP expression and shorter survival in breast cancer patients. In addition , APP expression was increased in breast cancer cell lines with higher metastatic potential. 8ZNF395 was overexpressed in various types of cancers, such as osteosarcoma, malignant melanoma, and gastric carcinoma, 9and its high expression has been associated with poorer prognosis in patients with osteosarcoma and other cancers. 10Further studies are therefore required to resolve these inconsistent results. In this study, we aimed to analyze the immunohistochemical expression of TARBP2, APP, and ZNF395 proteins in human breast cancers and analyze the relationships between these expression levels and various clinicopathological parameters and survival rates in patients with breast cancer. == Materials and Methods == == Patients and tissues == The study protocol was approved by the Human Ethics Review Committee of St . Marianna University School of Medicine (No. 3212). Patients gave their Pamabrom informed consent to participate in the research. This research complied with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. A total of 200 specimens of invasive breast carcinoma of no special type1were obtained from female patients (mean age 56 years, range 2787 years) at St . Marianna University Hospital from 2005 to 2007. The first-line clinical treatment in each patient was surgery, followed by adjuvant endocrine therapy, adjuvant chemotherapy, and radiation therapy in 154, 84, and 133 patients, respectively. The mean follow-up time was 90 months (range 1132 months). All the Rabbit polyclonal to UBE3A specimens were fixed in 10% formalin and embedded in paraffin wax. Tumor estrogen receptor Pamabrom (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) statuses were determined by immunostaining, as described previously, 7and their intrinsic subtypes Pamabrom were determined according to the 2011 St Gallen surrogate definition. 11 == Tissue microarray == Hematoxylineosin-stained sections were reviewed by two independent and experienced pathologists who selected representative normal and cancerous tissues in each specimen. Two 2 . 0-mm tissue cores per case were obtained from archival paraffin blocks using a manual tissue arrayer with accessory (KIN-2; Azumaya) and set side by side in a tissue microarray (TMA) (6 8 matrix) (Fig. 1). == Figure 1 . == Part of tissue microarray with TARBP2 immunostaining. Normal (N) and cancer (C) cores from same specimen were examined together. Bar, 1 mm. == Immunohistochemistry == Paraffin sections (3 m thick) were cut from TMA blocks, dewaxed in xylene, and rehydrated in ethanol. The sections were incubated in citrate buffer (pH 9. 0) for 40 minutes in a water bath at 95C and then incubated overnight at 4C with Human Protein Atlas (HPA) antibodies raised against TARBP2 (HPA051181, 1: 400), APP (HPA001462, 1: 400), and ZNF395 (HPA049382, 1: 50) (all Sigma-Aldrich). The.