Evaluation of the prognostic value of nm23 gene expression in breast cancer

Objective: To investigate the expression of nm23 gene and evaluate its prognostic value in breast cancer. Methods: nm23 expressions were detected in 101 breast cancer patients (group 1) by immunohistochemistry. RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry were used to measure expressions of nm23 gene in another 68 patients with breast cancer (group 2). Results: nm23 gene expression in group 1 was inversely associated with distant metastasis and lymph node metastasis ( P <0.05). In 44 patients with negative lymph node, 9 cases progressed to distant metastasis, 7 of them (77.8%) showed low expression of nm23 gene ( P <0.05). In 57 patients with positive lymph node, 24 our of 29 patients who had no distant metastasis (82.8%) expressed nm23 gene at high level ( P <0.05). Meanwhile, there were 6 patients with distant metastasis in the group 2, all of thenm expressed nm23 gene mRNA at low level. Conclusion: The results showed that nm23 gene might play an independent role in predicting prognosis of breast cancer.