[Expression and clinical significance of adhesive molecule CD44v6 in breast invasive ductal carcinoma].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Many researches suggest that CD44v6 is associated with the occurrence, invasion, and metastasis of breast cancer. However the reports about the relationship between CD44v6 expression and the prognosis of breast cancer are conflicting. This study was to investigate the expression of CD44v6 and its correlation to clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis of breast cancer. METHODS: CD44v6 expression in 84 specimens of breast cancer and 20 specimens of para-tumor breast tissues was detected by SP immunohistochemistry. COX proportional hazards model was used to analyze the prognosis. RESULTS: The positive rate of CD44v6 in the epithelial cells of breast cancer was significantly higher than that in para-tumor breast tissues (78.6% vs. 5.0%, P<0.05). The expression of CD44v6 was closely correlated to TNM stage, tumor size, and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05). The median follow-up period was 60 months. The overall survival rate was significantly higher in CD44v6-negative group than in CD44v6-positive group (P<0.05). The survival curve had a tendency to decline with the stronger expression of CD44v6. Cox model revealed that ER, TNM stage, and CD44v6 were independent prognostic factors of breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS: CD44v6 is highly expressed in breast cancer, and positively correlated to TNM stage, tumor size, and lymph node metastasis. CD44v6 is an independent prognostic factor of breast cancer.