Authors : Maria Kamal, Roobina Khan, Syed Harris Hasan, Veena Maheshwari
DOI : 10.18231/j.ijpo.2019.080
Volume : 6
Issue : 3
Year : 2019
Page No : 417-421
Context: Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer related deaths among women worldwide, thus forming a significant burden of disease. Various epithelial markers like ER, PR, and Her2/neu are well established factors predicting prognosis and treatment response in breast cancer. However, stroma has a definite role in tumor invasion and metastasis. Novel stromal markers are now emerging which aid in assessing the prognosis and treatment of invasive breast lesions.
Objectives: The present study aims to assess the frequency of stromal CD10 expression in malignant breast lesions and evaluate its prognostic significance and correlation with other clinico-pathological factors.
Design: Of the 172 cases of breast carcinoma, 158 were that of infiltrating ductal carcinoma (NOS) and were selected for CD10 staining forming the study group. Stromal CD10 was assessed immunohistochemically in these breast lesions and statistically correlated with known prognostic markers of breast carcinoma.
Results: Stromal CD10 significantly correlated with increasing tumor grade (P=0.0026), nodal positivity (P=0.0016), ER negativity (P=0.0007), Her2/neu positivity (P=0.0061), and worsening prognosis (P=0.04). No correlation was found between stromal CD10 expression with age, increasing tumor size and tumor stage. A higher CD10 positivity was seen in the triple negative group as compared to the non-triple negative group, but was statistically insignificant (P=0.0994).
Conclusion: Stromal CD10 expression showed a positive correlation with well-known poor prognostic factors in breast cancer [higher tumor grade, nodal positivity, ER negativity, Her2/neu positivity and worsening prognosis (NPI)], suggesting its definite role on tumor aggressiveness and its potential use as an independent prognostic marker.
Keywords: Breast cancer, CD10; Stroma, Prognosis.