Expression of epithelial-cadherin in triple negative breast cancer and its prognostic significance

Objective To investigate the expression of epithelial-cadherin (E-cad) in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and its effect on the prognosis of TNBC. Methods The data of 242 female patients with TNBC in Shanxi Provincial Cancer Hospital from April 2009 to April 2012 were collected. Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression of E-cad. Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazard regression model were conducted to analyze the effect of E-cad on the prognosis of TNBC patients. Results The low expression rate of E-cad in TNBC patients was 59.5% (144/242) and its expression was related to clinical TNM stage and lymph node metastasis (both P < 0.05). The median overall survival time of 242 patients was 70.7 months (7.2-95.9 months), and 50 (20.7%) patients died. The 3-year and 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate was 81.5% and 78.1%, and the overall survival (OS) rate was 86.5% and 81.1%, respectively. The DFS and OS rate in the E-cad low expression group were lower than those in the E-cad high expression group, and the difference was statistically significant (both P < 0.01). Cox regression model demonstrated that E-cad was an independent prognostic factor of DFS and OS (HR=0.144, 95% CI 0.057-0.365, P < 0.01; HR=0.196, 95% CI 0.073-0.710, P < 0.01). Conclusion The low expression of E-cad is correlated with metastasis and the poor prognosis of TNBC, which could be an independent prognostic factor for TNBC patients. Key words: Cadherins; Breast neoplasms; Triple negative; Prognosis