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. 2018 Mar 27;18(1):331.
doi: 10.1186/s12885-018-4170-7.

The prognostic significance of topoisomerase II alpha protein in early stage luminal breast cancer

Xin An  1   2 , Fei Xu  1   2 , Rongzhen Luo  1   3 , Qiufan Zheng  1   2 , Jiabin Lu  1   3 , Yanhua Yang  1   2 , Tao Qin  1   2 , Zhongyu Yuan  1   2 , Yanxia Shi  1   2 , Wenqi Jiang  1   2 , Shusen Wang  4   5
Affiliations

The prognostic significance of topoisomerase II alpha protein in early stage luminal breast cancer

Xin An et al. BMC Cancer. .

Abstract

Background: Topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A) protein has been shown to be a proliferation marker associated with tumor grade and Ki67 index. The prognostic effect of TOP2A seems different among different subtypes of breast cancer. The current study evaluated the prognostic impact of TOP2A protein on luminal breast cancer.

Method: Altogether 434 stage I-II luminal breast cancer patients who underwent curative surgery in Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center between 2007 and 2009 were enrolled. TOP2A protein expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry. Clinical and pathological data were retrospectively collected.

Result: With a cut-off value of 30%, 127 (29.3%) patients were classified as TOP2A overexpression. TOP2A overexpression was associated with a higher tumor grade and Ki67 index. Patients with TOP2A high expression showed a significantly higher rate of distant metastasis and shorter distant metastasis free survival (DMFS) compared with patients with low TOP2A expression. The prognostic influence of TOP2A expression was more significant in years 5-8 after diagnosis, and more pronounced in stage II patients, luminal B disease, and patients treated with adjuvant endocrine therapy alone. Multivariate survival analysis revealed TOP2A overexpression was an independent fact for worse DMFS.

Conclusion: TOP2A protein showed a time dependent influence on prognosis in stage I-II luminal breast cancer, suggesting it might be a potential predictor of late recurrence for this group of patients.

Keywords: Late recurrence; Luminal breast cancer; Prognostic factor; Survival; Topoisomerase II alpha.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center. (Ref: GYX 2015–002) Written informed consents were provided by all patients.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Representative immunostaining of TOP2A in luminal breast cancers. a High expression showing strong and diffuse nuclear staining of TOP2A (≥30%); (b) Low expression showing focal weak nuclear staining of TOP2A (< 30%) (magnification × 200 in each picture)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Kaplan-Meier survival analysis based on TOP2A expression. a disease-free survival (DFS); (b) distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS); (c) locoregional recurrent-free survival (LRFS); (d) breast cancer specific survival (BCSS)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Subgroup survival analysis according to pathologic stage (a, b), molecular subtypes (c, d), and adjuvant therapy (e, f). Abbreviations: CT: chemotherapy; ET: endocrine therapy
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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