Correlation of CD44 Protein Expression with Larger Tumor Size and Advanced Stage of Breast Cancer Patients.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the expression of CD44 in breast cancer and its association with patients' clinicopathological data, particularly in Bali.

Material and methods: This was a cross-sectional study in the Integrated Biomedical Laboratory and Biochemistry Laboratory of the Faculty of Medicine Udayana University, during January-December 2022, which lasted 12 months with 46 samples.

Results: The study showed that the age range of our subjects was 38-86 years old, with the majority of the parity being less than three. The mean CD44 expression in all samples was 1177.83 ± 268.47 ng/mL. Based on the clinicopathological data, there was a significant difference in CD44 expression based on the patient's menstrual status (p=0.016), tumor size (p=0.003), and stage (p=0.002). Based on the analysis using the chi-square test with a cut-off CD44 expression of 85.81, significant results (p=0.001) were obtained on the association of CD44 expression with tumor size. The cut-off value with the stage of breast cancer was 99.66 and showed a significant association between CD44 expression advanced stage (p = 0.001) in breast cancer patients. Other variables showed insignificant results.

Conclusion: CD44 protein expression in breast cancer patients is between 35.47-1407.83 ng/mL. This study showed a significant association between CD44 expression with tumor size and the advanced stage of breast cancer patients.