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
. 2013 Mar;16(1):40-9.
doi: 10.4048/jbc.2013.16.1.40. Epub 2013 Mar 31.

STAT3, a Poor Survival Predicator, Is Associated with Lymph Node Metastasis from Breast Cancer

Yujuan Chen  1 , Jing Wang, Xiaodong Wang, Xuejuan Liu, Hongjiang Li, Qing Lv, Jingqiang Zhu, Bing Wei, Ying Tang
Affiliations

STAT3, a Poor Survival Predicator, Is Associated with Lymph Node Metastasis from Breast Cancer

Yujuan Chen et al. J Breast Cancer. 2013 Mar.

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study is to explore signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) expression in breast cancer and to analyze the detailed mechanism that STAT3 contributes to the progression of breast cancer.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinicopathologic characteristics and overall survival (OS) of 140 breast cancer patients after curative surgery, and detected STAT3 expression, phosphorylated STAT3 (pSTAT3) expression, Ki-67 expression, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C and -D expression in breast cancer tissues, and adjacent nontumor tissues. Survival analysis and relationship analysis were adopted for demonstrated the important mechanism of STAT3 contribution to progression of breast cancer.

Results: STAT3 expression, pSTAT3 expression, Ki-67 expression, VEGF-C expression, and VEGF-D expression in breast cancer tissues were significantly higher than those in adjacent nontumor tissues, respectively. With survival analysis, only number of lymph node metastasis (N stage) was identified as the independent predictors of the OS of breast cancer patients. Besides, we demonstrated there was the most prominent correlation between STAT3 expression and lymph node metastasis in breast cancer tissues by using the multinominal regression method.

Conclusion: STAT3, a poor survival biomarker potential association with lymph node metastasis, was suitable for predication the OS of breast cancer patients after curative resection.

Keywords: Breast neoplasms; Neoplasm metastasis; Prognosis; STAT3 transcription factor.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) expression in breast cancer tissue. (B) STAT3 expression in adjacent nontumor tissue. (C) pSTAT3 expression in breast cancer tissue. (D) pSTAT3 expression in adjacent nontumor tissue (Immunohistochemical staining, ×400).
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C expression in breast cancer tissue. (B) VEGF-C expression in adjacent nontumor tissue. (C) VEGF-D expression in breast cancer tissue. (D) VEGF-D expression in adjacent nontumor tissue (Immunohistochemical staining, ×400).
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) Ki-67 expression in breast cancer tissue. (B) Ki-67 expression in adjacent nontumor tissue. (C) Estrogen receptor (ER) expression in breast cancer tissue. (D) ER expression in adjacent nontumor tissue (Immunohistochemical staining, ×400).
Figure 4
Figure 4
(A) Progesterone receptor (PR) expression in breast cancer tissue. (B) PR expression in adjacent nontumor tissue. (C) Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) expression in breast cancer tissue. (D) HER2 expression in adjacent nontumor tissue (Immunohistochemical staining, ×400).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Survival curve for 140 breast cancer patients after curative surgery according to stage subgroup. (A) N stage (the AJCC (American Joint Committee On Cancer)) TNM classification of breast cancer). (B) TNM stage (the International Union against Cancer TNM classification of breast cancer). (C) Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) expression. (D) Phosphorylated STAT3 (pSTAT3) expression. (E) Ki-67 expression.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Comparison mean values of lymph node metastatic counts of 140 breast cancer patients according to signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) expression.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Cowin P, Welch DR. Breast cancer progression: controversies and consensus in the molecular mechanisms of metastasis and EMT. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. 2007;12:99–102. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Naik AM, Fey J, Gemignani M, Heerdt A, Montgomery L, Petrek J, et al. The risk of axillary relapse after sentinel lymph node biopsy for breast cancer is comparable with that of axillary lymph node dissection: a follow-up study of 4008 procedures. Ann Surg. 2004;240:462–468. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sola M, Alberro JA, Fraile M, Santesteban P, Ramos M, Fabregas R, et al. Complete axillary lymph node dissection versus clinical follow-up in breast cancer patients with sentinel node micrometastasis: final results from the multicenter clinical trial AATRM 048/13/2000. Ann Surg Oncol. 2013;20:120–127. - PubMed
    1. Sanuki N, Takeda A, Amemiya A, Ofuchi T, Ono M, Ogata H, et al. Outcomes of clinically node-negative breast cancer without axillary dissection: can preserved axilla be safely treated with radiation after a positive sentinel node biopsy? Clin Breast Cancer. 2013;13:69–76. - PubMed
    1. Noguchi M, Morioka E, Ohno Y, Nakano Y, Kosaka T. The changing role of axillary lymph node dissection for breast cancer. Breast Cancer. 2013;20:41–46. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources