Osteopontin splice variants are differential predictors of breast cancer treatment responses.

BACKGROUND

Osteopontin is a marker for breast cancer progression, which in previous studies has also been associated with resistance to certain anti-cancer therapies. It is not known which splice variants may mediate treatment resistance.

METHODS

Here we analyze the association of osteopontin variant expression before treatment, differentiated according to immunohistochemistry with antibodies to exon 4 and to the osteopontin-c splice junction respectively, with the ensuing therapy responses in 119 Polish breast cancer patients who presented between 1995 and 2008.

RESULTS

We found from Cox hazard models, logrank test and Wilcoxon test that osteopontin exon 4 was associated with a favorable response to tamoxifen, but a poor response to chemotherapy with CMF (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, fluorouracil). Osteopontin-c is prognostic, but falls short of being a significant predictor for sensitivity to treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

The addition of osteopontin splice variant immunohistochemistry to standard pathology work-ups has the potential to aid decision making in breast cancer treatment.