EphA2, EphrinAl expression in breast cancer and its relationship with clinical pathological study

Objective: To investigate the expression of EphA2 and EphrinAl in breast cancer from Yunnan Dali Bai, Han and other minority women and to investigate their relationship with clinicopathological parameters, ie., the tumor size, pathological type, lymph node metastasis, age, TNM staging, and the histological grade. Methods: Using immunohistochemical SP method and in situ hybridization to detect the expression aiming at the protein and mRNA of EphA2 receptor and its ligand EphrinAl in the breast cancer, including 129 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma, 8 cases of intraductal carcinoma and 40 cases of normal breast tissues. Results: The immunohistochemistry showed that the positive expression rate of EphA2 was 89% and that of EphrinAl was 94% in 129 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma tissues, while in 8 cases of intraductal carcinoma the positive rate of EphA2 and of EphrinAl was 63% and 75%, respectively. In 40 cases of normal tissue EphA2 positive expression rate was 3%, and the EphrinAl positive rate was 2%. There is a significant difference between the positive expression rate of EphA2 and that of EphrinAl (P<0.05). In addition, in situ hybridization showed that the positive expression rate of EphA2 was 73% and that of EphrinAl was 80% in 129 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma tissues. In 8 cases of intraductal carcinoma the positive rate of EphA2 and of EphrinAl was 37% and 50%, respectively. In 40 cases of normal tissue EphA2 positive expression rate was 1%, and EphrinAl positive rate was 2%. There is a significant difference between the positive expression rate of EphA2 and that of EphrinAl (P<0.05). The positive expression rates of EphA2 and EphrinAl have no significant correlation with the patient age and TNM staging (P>0.05), but are correlated statistically with the pathological type, tumer size, lymph node metastasis and histological grade (P<0.05). There is a significant difference between the positive expression rate of the EphA2 protein and that of EphA2 mRNA, and between that of EphrinA1 protein and its mRNA (P<0.05). Conclusion: EphA2 and EphrinAl show very strong expression in breast cancer tissue, and may play an important role in the pathophysiological research and in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.