[Correlation of expression of heparanase to angiogenesis and prognosis of breast cancer].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Heparanase is a heparan sulfate proteoglycan cleaving enzyme. It helps to degrade extracellular matrix and basement membrane, promote angiogenesis, and accelerate tumor metastasis. This study was to investigate correlation of heparanase expression to angiogenesis and prognosis of breast cancer. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry was used to detect heparanase and microvessel density (MVD) in 120 specimens of infiltrative ductal breast cancer, and 10 specimens of normal breast tissue. Correlation of heparanase expression to clinicopathologic factors and prognosis of breast cancer were analyzed using Chi-square test, t test, Kaplan-Meier method, and log-rank test. RESULTS: Positive rate of heparanase in breast cancer was 65% (78/120), significantly higher than that in normal breast tissue (0, 0/10) (P< 0.05). MVD in breast cancer was 53.84+/-13.45, significantly higher than that in control group (33.32+/-8.55) (P< 0.01). Expression of heparanase positively correlated with tumor size, histological grade, lymph node metastasis, and clinical stage (P< 0.05) of breast cancer, and negatively correlated with 5-year survival rate (P< 0.05). MVD in heparanase positive group was much higher than that in heparanase negative group (P< 0.05), MVD positively correlated with heparanase expression (r=0.358,P< 0.01). CONCLUSION: Heparanase may promote angiogenesis, and may closely correlate with prognosis of breast cancer.