Thrombomodulin is a new biological and prognostic marker for breast cancer: an immunohistochemical study.

BACKGROUND

Thrombomodulin (TM) is a natural anticoagulant which inhibits thrombin. Recent studies have reported that TM is correlated with vascular diseases and a few cancers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role and the prognostic value of TM in breast cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

TM expression in samples from 60 invasive breast cancer patients was examined immunohistochemically with a polyclonal antibody against TM.

RESULTS

TM staining was observed mainly on both the cytoplasm and cell surface in cancer cells and on endothelial cells around or in cancer tissue. TM expression in cancer cells was not correlated with the clinicopathological features. However, low TM expression was significantly correlated with a high relapse rate (p = 0.047 by the chi 2 test and 0.05 by the Kaplan-Meier method).

CONCLUSIONS

TM might play an active role in cancer invasion and metastasis, and serve as a new prognostic factor in invasive breast cancer.