HE4 expression can be associated with lymph node metastases and disease-free survival in breast cancer.

BACKGROUND This study investigated the potential of HE4 to predict disease-free survival for patients with breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS One hundred and twenty-nine patients with breast cancer underwent surgery from January 2004 to September 2009. Immunohistochemical analysis (IHC) and RT-PCR were used to determine the expression of HE4 which was compared with the clinicopathological factors or prognosis. RESULTS A total of 71 of 129 cases (55%) were HE4 positive and two cell lines expressed HE4 protein and mRNA. No correlation was found between HE4 expression by IHC and clinicopathological factors; however, lymph node involvement was closely associated with HE4 expression. Five-year disease-free survival in the HE4-positive group (58.6%) was significantly worse than that in the negative group (85.6%, p=0.04). CONCLUSION These data showed that HE4 expression is associated with lymph node involvement and is a possible predictive factor of breast cancer recurrence.