Naimi Azar, Zare Nadereh, Amjadi Elham, Soltan Maryam
Department of Pathology, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Poursina Hakim Digestive Diseases Research Center, Isfahan, Iran.
J Res Med Sci. 2022 Mar 17;27:20. doi: 10.4103/jrms.jrms_1389_20. eCollection 2022.
Triple-negative breast cancer is a heterogeneous subtype of breast cancer. Claudin is an epithelial tight junctional protein, and also it is a receptor for clostridium perfringens enterotoxin and shows impairment of expression in several cancers. The chief purpose of this study is to assess the claudin-4 expression in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) Iranian patients and evaluate its correlation with some clinicopathological factors.
In this study, 81 TNBC patients were evaluated for the claudin-4 expression by immunohistochemistry. The slides' staining intensity was examined and scored from 0 to 3. Then, slides were reviewed to assess the percentage of cells with membrane and cytoplasmic staining; the obtaining scores were 1-4. Finally, added the resulting two numbers from two stages, and the final number was a maximum of 7. Final scores of 0-3 were considered the low expression, and 4-7 were considered the high expression. Finally, the collected data were analyzed using the Chi-square test.
Eighty-one women with breast cancer and a mean age of 49 ± 12 years participated in the study. In 80% of the patients, there was a high expression of claudin-4 marker, and 20% had low expression. The expression level of the marker was not significantly correlated with age, tumor size, lymph node involvement, tumor grade, disease stage, Ki-67, and metastasis.
The present study confirmed the high frequency of claudin-4 antigen expression in TNBC patients, and no significant correlation was observed between the expression of antigen and demographic or clinicopathological factors.
三阴性乳腺癌是乳腺癌的一种异质性亚型。闭合蛋白是一种上皮紧密连接蛋白，也是产气荚膜梭菌肠毒素的受体，在几种癌症中显示出表达受损。本研究的主要目的是评估伊朗三阴性乳腺癌（TNBC）患者中闭合蛋白-4的表达情况，并评估其与一些临床病理因素的相关性。
在本研究中，通过免疫组织化学对81例TNBC患者的闭合蛋白-4表达进行评估。检查玻片的染色强度并从0到3进行评分。然后，复查玻片以评估细胞膜和细胞质染色的细胞百分比；获得的分数为1 - 4分。最后，将两个阶段得到的两个数字相加，最终数字最高为7分。最终得分0 - 3分被认为是低表达，4 - 7分被认为是高表达。最后，使用卡方检验对收集的数据进行分析。
81名平均年龄为49±12岁的乳腺癌女性参与了本研究。80%的患者闭合蛋白-4标志物高表达，20%低表达。该标志物的表达水平与年龄、肿瘤大小、淋巴结受累情况、肿瘤分级、疾病分期、Ki-67和转移均无显著相关性。
本研究证实了TNBC患者中闭合蛋白-4抗原表达的高频率，并且未观察到抗原表达与人口统计学或临床病理因素之间存在显著相关性。
