Affiliations: [a] Department of Pathology, Kunming General Hospital, Kunming, Yunnan, China | [b] Department of Internal Medicine, West China Medical Center, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Ju Lun Yang, Department of Pathology, Kunming General Hospital, 121 Daguan Road, Xishan District, Kunming, Yunan, 650032, China. Tel.: +86 13150756306; E-mail: yangjulun_1@sina.com.
Abstract: BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: CD133 is the molecular marker of normal stem cells and progenitor cells and also confirmed as a marker for cancer stem cells in various tumors. The aim of this study is to examine the expression of CD133 and assess its clinicopathologic significance in benign and malignant breast lesions. METHODS: We analyzed the distribution of CD133 positive cells in breast usual ductal hyperplasia, atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH), breast ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), and invasive breast carcinomas. We then explored the relationship between the CD133 expression and clinicopathologic features using immuno-histochemical staining. RESULTS: We found that CD133 is not expressed in the cells of normal breast tissue, but the expression rate increased with progression of lesions from usual hyperplasia, through atypical ductal hyperplasia, ductal carcinoma in situ and invasive carcinoma. The positive expression rate of CD133 in breast invasive ductal carcinoma correlated to histological grade, cancer stage, nodal status, metastasis, recurrence, event-free survival and overall survival. There was no significant correlation between CD133 expression and factors such as age, postmenopausal status, histological type, tumor size, estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 expression. CONCLUSION: CD133 may play an important role in the occurrence and development of breast cancer. CD133 positive breast cancer cells are closely related to invasiveness and its expression may predict a poor prognosis.
Keywords: Breast usual ductal hyperplasia, breast atypical ductal hyperplasia, breast ductal carcinomas in situ, invasive breast carcinoma, CD133, cancer stem cell
