Association of maspin expression with the malignancy grade and tumor vascularization in breast cancer tissues

Hojo, T Akiyama, Y Nagasaki, K Maruyama, K Kikuchi, K Ikeda, T Kitajima, M Yamaguchi, K

T. Hojo et al., Association of maspin expression with the malignancy grade and tumor vascularization in breast cancer tissues, CANCER LETT, 171(1), 2001, pp. 103-110

20

INGLESE

Article

Onconogenesis & Cancer Research

CANCER LETTERS

0304-3835 → ACNP

171

1

2001

103 - 110

ISI

0304-3835(20010928)171:1<103:AOMEWT>2.0.ZU;2-P

Maspin belongs to a tumor suppressing protein which is usually expressed hi ghly in myoepithelial cells, and is significantly downregulated in breast c ancer cells. We focused on identifying the correlation between maspin expre ssion and the clinicopathological features of human breast cancer tissues u sing immunohistochemistry. There was a significant correlation in that masp in-positive tumor specimens showed a low pathological grade of malignancy, such as a lower infiltration of the tumor into the surrounding tissue and a downregulation of c-erbB2 expression. Moreover, maspin-positive cases show ed a significant decrease in tumor vessels positively stained with anti-fac tor VIII-related antigen antibody. These results suggest that maspin produc tion in myoepithelial cells could downregulate the malignant phenotype of b reast cancer. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.