Protein expression of SEC62 in triple-negative breast cancer

Background:

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignant tumor disease of women worldwide. Approximately 15 – 20% of patients have a specific subtype defined by the lack of expression of the estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor as well as Her2. This subtype is called triple-negative breast carcinoma (TNBC) and is associated with bad outcomes including early metastasis, early relapse, and poor overall survival. Since neither antihormonal- nor a Her2-neu directed antibody therapy is possible, the treatment options in these cases are very limited. Therefore, further prognostic markers are needed to better adapt the treatment strategy to the disease. SEC62, a gene located at chromosomal region 3q26.2 that encodes an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) transmembrane protein, is found to be overexpressed and significantly associated with a worse prognosis in various cancer types such as non-small cell lung cancer, thyroid cancer, and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Therefore, we aimed in this study to investigate SEC62 expression in TNBC to evaluate its possible role as a prognostic and predictive biomarker in this tumor entity.

Materials and methods:

60 women with histologic confirmed TNBC were enrolled in this study. Representative formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumour blocks of all patients were obtained from the department of pathology of our hospital and 3 tissue microarray blocks were developed. Immunohistochemical staining for SEC62 was performed and staining results were analysed by an experienced pathologist. SEC62 expression was correlated with the clinicopathologic findings and overall survival data.

Results and Conclusion:

These will be showed later in TRAFO.