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. 2019 May 15;9(1):7407.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-43565-0.

A case-control study of Metallothionein-1 expression in breast cancer and breast fibroadenoma

Fabiane Araújo Sampaio  1 , Luana Mota Martins  2 , Carla Solange de Melo Escorcio Dourado  2 , Camila Maria Simplício Revoredo  2 , Danylo Rafhael Costa-Silva  2 , Victor Alves de Oliveira  3 , Francisco Adelton Alves-Ribeiro  2 , Benedito Borges da Silva  2
Affiliations

A case-control study of Metallothionein-1 expression in breast cancer and breast fibroadenoma

Fabiane Araújo Sampaio et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

The overexpression of Metallothionein-1 (MT-1) may play an important role in breast cancer; however, few studies have compared MT-1 expression between breast cancer and fibroadenoma. A cross-sectional controlled study was performed in 66 premenopausal women, aged 20-49 years, who had been histologically diagnosed with breast fibroadenoma or breast cancer. The patients were divided into two groups: group A, control (fibroadenoma, n = 36) and group B, study (breast cancer, n = 30). Immunohistochemistry was performed on tissue samples of fibroadenoma and breast cancer patients to evaluate the expression of metallothionein using an anti-MT-1 polyclonal antibody (rabbit polyclonal anti-metallothionein-Catalog Number biorbyt-orb11042) at a dilution of 1:100. The data were analyzed using NOVA (p < 0.05). Microscopic analysis showed a higher concentration of anti-MT-1-stained nuclei in breast cancer tissues than in fibroadenoma tissues. The mean proportion of cells with anti-MT-1-stained nuclei was 26.93% and 9.10%, respectively, in the study and control groups (p < 0.001). Histological grade 3 tumors showed a significantly higher MT-1 expression than hitological grade 1 (p < 0.05), while breast tumors negative for estrogen-, progesterone- and HER2- receptors had a significantly higher MT-1 expression than positive breast tumors positive for these parameters (p < 0.05). MT-1 protein in women of reproductive age was significantly higher in breast cancer than in fibroadenoma in this study. Furthermore, there was higher MT-1 immunoreactivity in more aggressive tumors.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Photomicrographs of histological sections of breast fibroadenoma (A), grade 1breast cancer (B), grade 2 breast cancer (C) and grade 3 breast cancer (D). Note the higher concentration of MT-1-stained nuclei in breast cancer cells compared to fibroadenoma cells (original magnification X400).
Figure 2
Figure 2
MT-1 expression in different histological grades of ductal invasive breast cancer.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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