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. 2010 Apr 1:10:123.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-10-123.

N-Acetylgalactosaminyltransferase-14 as a potential biomarker for breast cancer by immunohistochemistry

Chen Wu  1 , Xiaodan Guo, Weina Wang, Yun Wang, Yaojun Shan, Bo Zhang, Wenqian Song, Sisi Ma, Jianfeng Ge, Hao Deng, Mingsheng Zhu
Affiliations

N-Acetylgalactosaminyltransferase-14 as a potential biomarker for breast cancer by immunohistochemistry

Chen Wu et al. BMC Cancer. .

Abstract

Background: The post-translational modification of proteins, including glycosylation, differs between normal and tumor cells. The UDP-N-acetyl-D-galactosamine polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferases (GalNAc-Tases) family of enzymes regulates the initial steps of mucin O-glycosylation and is responsible for the altered glycosylation state observed in cancer cells. Recently it was found that GalNAc-T14 mRNA is heterogeneously expressed in breast carcinomas compared to normal tissue, however the expression profile of GalNAc-T14 protein in breast carcinomas compared to normal tissue is still unknown. In this study, we assessed the expression profile of GalNAc-T14 protein in malignant and non-malignant breast tissues by immunohistochemistry to evaluate whether GalNAc-T14 might be a potential biomarker for breast cancer.

Methods: In formalin-fixed tissues, the expression level of GalNAc-T14 protein was evaluated by immunohistochemistry assay in breast tissues. Expression profiles were assessed in normal tissues, benign fibroadenomas and several types of carcinomas.

Results: Our results showed that GalNAc-T14 was heterogeneously expressed in breast carcinomas compared to non-malignant tissue. GalNAc-T14 expression was observed in 47/56 (83.9%) carcinoma samples, 7/48 (14.6%) non-malignant breast tissue samples. GalNAc-T14 expression level was associated with histological grade. For this enzyme a significant association with invasive ductal type, mucinous adenocarcinoma and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) type was found.

Conclusion: Our results provide evidence that GalNAc-T14 may be a potential biomarker for breast cancer by immunohistochemistry. GalNAc-T14 expression level was associated with histological grade. GalNAc-T14 expression can provide new insights about breast cancer glycobiology.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Immunohistochemical evaluation of GalNAc-T14 in breast carcinomas and normal tissue. A, Adenosis. B, Normal. C, Cancer. D, Cancer and surrounding normal tissue. E, Nonspecific immunoglobulin was used as a negative control. Magnification: A, B, C, E ×400; D ×100. (In order to show the immunostaining profile of carcinomas and normal tissue surrounding carcinomas in the same microscopic field, 100× magnification was used)
Figure 2
Figure 2
GalNAc-T14 expression in different breast cancer type. A, Invasive ductal carcinoma. B, Invasive lobular carcinoma. C, DCIS. D, Mucinous Adenocarcinoma. Magnification: ×400.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The differential expression of GalNAc-T14 protein in breast carcinomas with different histological grades. A, the cases with histological grade 1. B, the cases with histological grade 2. C, the cases with histological grade 3.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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