J Korean Med Sci.  2006 Apr;21(2):309-314. 10.3346/jkms.2006.21.2.309.

Clinicopathological Significance of Maspin Expression in Breast Cancer

• Lee MJ
• Suh CH
• Li ZH

• KMID: 1781841
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2006.21.2.309

Abstract

Maspin is a unique serine proteinase inhibitor that has tumor suppressor activity. It has been reported that maspin is expressed in normal human mammary epithelial cells and it is down-regulated during the progression of cancer. However, to date, there is very limited data on the clinical significance of maspin expression in human breast cancer. In this study, maspin expression was assessed immunohistochemically from 80 invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) specimens of the breast. Also, maspin expression was compared with the clinicopathological factors (age, grade, tumor size and lymph node status), the expression of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and p53, DNA ploidy and the overall survival in an attempt to assess its prognostic value. The maspin expression was positive in 25 IDC cases (31.3%). The maspin expression in IDC was significantly correlated with a higher histologic grade, a larger tumor size, a positive p53 status and shorter survival. There was an inverse association with maspin expression and the PR status. These findings suggest that maspin expression is not down-regulated with the progression of cancer and maspin expression may be associated with a poor prognosis. The immunohistochemical detection of maspin in breast cancers may be helpful for predicting an aggressive phenotype.

Keyword

Serpins; Immunohistochemistry; Prognosis; Breast Neoplasms

MeSH Terms

Tumor Suppressor Protein p53/metabolism
Survival Rate
Serpins/*metabolism
Receptors, Progesterone/metabolism
Receptors, Estrogen/metabolism
Prognosis
Ploidies
Middle Aged
Humans
Genes, Tumor Suppressor
Female
DNA, Neoplasm/analysis/genetics
Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast/genetics/*metabolism/mortality/pathology
Breast Neoplasms/genetics/*metabolism/mortality/pathology
Aged
Adult

Figure

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  Fig. 1 The maspin expression shows strong nuclear reactivity and weak cytoplasmic reactivity on the myoepithelial cells of ductal carcinoma in situ and remaining glands. The epithelial cells are negatively stained (Anti-maspin, ×200).

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  Fig. 2 Immunonegativity for maspin is seen in invasive ductal carcinoma, but strong positivity in myoepithelial cells of the remaining glands (Anti-maspin, ×200).

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  Fig. 3 The maspin is expressed in the cytoplasm of the cancer cells. Some cells shows nuclear staining that accompanied the cytoplasmic staining (Anti-maspin, ×400).

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  Fig. 4 Univariate analysis of 80 patients of invasive ductal carcinoma shows a significant difference in the overall survival according to the maspin expression.

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