Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Jun 1;8(11):1654-8.
doi: 10.4161/cc.8.11.8544.

Towards a new "stromal-based" classification system for human breast cancer prognosis and therapy

Affiliations
Free article

Towards a new "stromal-based" classification system for human breast cancer prognosis and therapy

Agnieszka K Witkiewicz et al. Cell Cycle. .
Free article

Abstract

Here, we discuss recent evidence that an absence of stromal Cav-1 expression in human breast cancers is a powerful single independent predictor of early disease recurrence, metastasis and poor clinical outcome. These findings have now been validated in two independent patient populations. Importantly, the predictive value of stromal Cav-1 is independent of epithelial marker status, making stromal Cav-1 a new "universal" or "widely-applicable" breast cancer prognostic marker. We propose based on the expression of stromal Cav-1, that breast cancer patients could be stratified into high-risk and low-risk groups. High-risk patients showing an absence of stromal Cav-1 should be offered more aggressive therapies, such as anti-angiogenic approaches, in addition to the standard therapy regimens. Mechanistically, loss of stromal Cav-1 is a surrogate biomarker for increased cell cycle progression, growth factor secretion, "stemness", and angiogenic potential in the tumor microenvironment. Since almost all cancers develop within the context of a stromal microenvironment, this new stromal classification system may be broadly applicable to other epithelial and non-epithelial cancer subtypes, as well as "pre-malignant" lesions (carcinoma in situ).

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

Cited by

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources