Overexpression of protein is closely related to triple-negative breast cancer.

PURPOSE

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer with a poor prognosis and a lack of targeted therapy. Overexpression of is thought to be associated with this aggressive subtype of cancer. Here, we performed a comprehensive analysis and assessed the association between overexpression of and TNBC.

METHODS

First, using different web-based bioinformatics platforms (TIMER 2.0, UALCAN, and GEPIA 2), the expression of was assessed. Then, the expression of the protein and hormone receptors and HER2 status were assessed by immunohistochemical analysis. For samples of tumors with equivocal immunoreactivity, we performed silver hybridization of the HER2 gene to determine an accurate HER2 status. Next, we used the R package and bc-GenExMiner 4.8 to analyze the relationship between expression and clinicopathological parameters in breast cancer patients. Finally, we determined the relationship between overexpression and prognosis in patients.

RESULTS

The expression of in breast cancer tissues is significantly higher than in normal tissue. expression was significantly related to worse overall survival (P < 0.05) and was correlated with these clinicopathological features: T stage, N stage, age, high histologic grade, estrogen receptor status, progesterone receptor status, Her-2 status, TNBC status, basal-like status, CK5/6 status, and Ki67 status.

CONCLUSION

was overexpressed in breast cancer compared to normal tissue, and it may be involved in the progression of breast cancer malignancy. This study provides suggestive evidence of the prognostic role of in breast cancer and the therapeutic target for TNBC.