expression and clinical significance of activating transcription factor 3 in human breast cancer

objective(s): breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women worldwide. this study investigated the expression and clinical significance of activating transcription factor 3 (atf3) in human breast cancer and its relationship with the clinical outcome of breast cancer.   materials and methods : atf3 expressions were detected in 114 primary breast cancer tissues and 114 adjacent normal tissues using immunohistochemistry (ihc) assay. categorical variables were statistically compared by chi-square or fisher’s exact test. survival curves were evaluated using the kaplan-meier method and comparisons of survival rates were tested using a log-rank test. results : ihc analysis showed that the positive expression of atf3 protein was detected in breast cancer tissue with a positive ratio of 76.3%, and the positive atf3 expression in adjacent normal breast tissue was 13.2%, which is lower than that in breast cancer tissue samples (p<0.01). furthermore, atf3 expression showed significant correlation with tnm stage, invasion, lymph node metastasis and number of metastatic lymph nodes (p=0.038, p=0.029, p=0.026, and p=0.039 respectively), and did not correlate with patients’ age and tumor size (p>0.05). a significant difference in overall survival rate was found between the patients with positive expression of atf3 protein and those with negative expression (p=0.041). conclusion : increased atf3 expression participate in the tumorigenesis, invasion and metastasis of breast cancer, and atf3 may be useful as a new prognostic indicator for breast cancer patients