Department of Pathology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Key Laboratory of Transplant Engineering and Immunology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
J Breast Cancer. 2014 Mar;17(1):54-60. doi: 10.4048/jbc.2014.17.1.54. Epub 2014 Mar 28.
It is widely accepted that aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity is a signature of breast cancer stem cells, and high activity has been reported to be associated with poor clinical outcome. The aim of this study was to assess the expression of members of the ALDH family of isozymes in breast cancer tissues and to evaluate the implications of the results.
We analyzed paraffin-embedded tumor tissue from 160 patients with breast cancer. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining was performed on the slides using antibodies against different ALDH family members. We collated the IHC results with patient clinical characteristics and determined their prognostic value. In addition, we analyzed normal, hyperplastic, and carcinomatous tissues in situ to check their ALDH distributions.
All the tested ALDH members were detected in the various tissue types, but at different levels. Only ALDH 1A3 was found to be significantly associated with distant metastasis (p=0.001), disease-free survival (p<0.001), and overall survival (p<0.001).
The level of ALDH 1A3 in breast cancer tissue is a predictive marker of a poor clinical outcome.
醛脱氢酶（ALDH）活性是乳腺癌干细胞的特征之一，已有研究报道其高活性与不良临床结局相关。本研究旨在评估 ALDH 同工酶家族成员在乳腺癌组织中的表达，并评估其结果的意义。
我们分析了 160 例乳腺癌患者的石蜡包埋肿瘤组织。使用针对不同 ALDH 家族成员的抗体对载玻片进行免疫组织化学（IHC）染色。我们将 IHC 结果与患者的临床特征进行整理，并确定其预后价值。此外，我们还分析了原位的正常、增生和癌组织，以检查它们的 ALDH 分布。
所有测试的 ALDH 成员均在不同的组织类型中被检测到，但水平不同。只有 ALDH1A3 与远处转移（p=0.001）、无病生存期（p<0.001）和总生存期（p<0.001）显著相关。
乳腺癌组织中 ALDH1A3 的水平是临床预后不良的预测标志物。
