Xia Xianghou, Yin Wenjuan, Zhang Xiping, Yu Xingfei, Wang Chen, Xu Shenhua, Feng Weiliang, Yang Hongjian
Department of Breast Surgery, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, P.R. China.
Department of Pathology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, P.R. China.
Oncol Lett. 2015 Sep;10(3):1501-1506. doi: 10.3892/ol.2015.3434. Epub 2015 Jun 29.
Paired box 6 (PAX6) plays a significant role in the development of human neuroectodermal epithelial tissues. Previous studies have suggested that the PAX6 promoter is hypermethylated in breast cancer and that it is involved in breast cancer cell proliferation. The present study aimed to investigate the expression of PAX6 in invasive breast cancer tissues, and to evaluate its prognostic significance. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to detect PAX6 expression on a breast cancer tissue microarray containing tissues from 111 patients. Associations of PAX6 expression with staging and prognosis were analyzed. PAX6 was mainly expressed in the nucleus. The PAX6 staining intensity was not associated with age, histological grade, lymph node status, tumor size, or progesterone receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 expression (all P>0.05). A high level of PAX6 staining was more frequent in estrogen receptor (ER)-negative cases compared with ER-positive cases (43.9 vs. 25.7%; P=0.049). After a median follow-up time of 110 months, the patients with low PAX6 expression exhibited an improved survival rate compared with the patients with high PAX6 expression (P<0.001). Cox analysis showed a worse survival rate in the patients with high PAX6 staining (hazard ratio, 3.458; 95% confidence interval, 1.575-7.593; P=0.002). In conclusion, high tumor PAX6 staining intensity by IHC was associated with a poor prognosis in breast cancer patients.
配对盒基因6（PAX6）在人类神经外胚层上皮组织的发育中起着重要作用。先前的研究表明，PAX6启动子在乳腺癌中发生高甲基化，并且它参与乳腺癌细胞的增殖。本研究旨在调查PAX6在浸润性乳腺癌组织中的表达，并评估其预后意义。采用免疫组织化学（IHC）方法检测了111例患者组织的乳腺癌组织芯片上PAX6的表达。分析了PAX6表达与分期及预后的相关性。PAX6主要在细胞核中表达。PAX6染色强度与年龄、组织学分级、淋巴结状态、肿瘤大小或孕激素受体及人表皮生长因子受体2表达均无相关性（所有P>0.05）。与雌激素受体（ER）阳性病例相比，ER阴性病例中PAX6高染色水平更为常见（43.9%对25.7%；P=0.049）。中位随访时间110个月后，PAX6低表达患者的生存率高于PAX6高表达患者（P<0.001）。Cox分析显示，PAX6高染色患者的生存率较差（风险比，3.458；95%置信区间，1.575 - 7.593；P=0.002）。总之，免疫组织化学检测显示肿瘤PAX6高染色强度与乳腺癌患者预后不良相关。
