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CD44 Expression Is Associated with Increased Survival in Node-Negative Invasive Breast Carcinoma

Authors' Affiliations: Departments of ¹ Pathology, ² Breast Medical Oncology, and ³ Biostatistics, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas

Requests for reprints: Michael Z. Gilcrease, Department of Pathology, Box 85, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX 77030. Phone: 713-745-9928; Fax: 713-792-4341; E-mail: mgilcrease{at}mdanderson.org.

Purpose: CD44 is a multifunctional cell surface receptor with many known splice variants, some of which have been reported to play a role in tumor progression. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of CD44 isoforms in early-stage, lymph node–negative invasive breast carcinoma.

Experimental Design: Immunohistochemical staining for CD44 isoforms was done on archival paraffin tissue sections of invasive breast carcinoma from a cohort of lymph node–negative patients who received no adjuvant tamoxifen or chemotherapy and who had a mean clinical follow-up period of 15 years. Immunohistochemical staining was done with antibodies to CD44s, the standard isoform of CD44, and to isoforms containing variant exon 6 (CD44v6); levels of staining were correlated with clinical outcome data.

Results: There was a trend towards increased disease-free survival for patients whose tumors had high anti-CD44s positivity (P = 0.05), and a significant association was observed between anti-CD44s positivity and disease-related survival (P = 0.04). Expression of CD44v6 isoforms did not correlate with clinical outcome.

Conclusion: CD44 expression, as assessed by immunohistochemical staining with anti-CD44s, may be a favorable prognostic factor in patients with node-negative invasive breast carcinoma.

Key Words: CD44s • CD44v6 • breast carcinoma • prognostic marker

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