Quantitative Immunohistochemical Analysis and Prognostic Significance of TRPS-1, a New GATA Transcription Factor Family Member, in Breast Cancer

• Published in: Hormones & cancer 2010-02, Vol.1 (1), p.21-33
• Main Authors: Chen, Jie Qing, Litton, Jennifer, Xiao, Li, Zhang, Hua-Zhong, Warneke, Carla L., Wu, Yun, Shen, Xiaoyun, Wu, Sheng, Sahin, Aysegul, Katz, Ruth, Bondy, Melissa, Hortobagyi, Gabriel, Berinstein, Neil L., Murray, James L., Radvanyi, Laszlo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomarkers, Tumor - analysis; Biomarkers, Tumor - genetics; Breast Neoplasms - genetics; Breast Neoplasms - mortality; Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Breast Neoplasms, Male - genetics; Breast Neoplasms, Male - pathology; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - genetics; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - mortality; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - pathology; Cell Biology; DNA-Binding Proteins - analysis; DNA-Binding Proteins - genetics; Endocrinology; Female; Gene Expression Profiling - methods; Humans; Immunohistochemistry - methods; Internal Medicine; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Microbiology; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Staging; Oncology; Prognosis; Proportional Hazards Models; Repressor Proteins; Systems Biology; Transcription Factors - analysis; Transcription Factors - genetics
• ISSN: 1868-8497; 1868-8500
• DOI: 10.1007/s12672-010-0008-8

The trichorhinophalangeal syndrome 1 (TRPS-1) gene is a novel GATA transcription factor family member. Previously, using a gene expression profiling and immunohistochemistry (IHC) screen, we identified TRPS-1 as a highly prevalent gene in breast cancer (BC), expressed in >90% of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) + and ERα − BC subtypes. TRPS-1 was also shown to be expressed in prostate cancer where it was shown to play a proapoptotic function during androgen withdrawal possibly through regulating antioxidant metabolism. The role of TRPS-1 and its prognostic significance in hormone-dependent and hormone-independent BC however is not known. In this study, we developed a new quantitative IHC (qIHC) method to further study TRPS-1 as a marker and possible prognostic indicator in BC. By using this method, a quantitative parameter for TRPS-1 expression called a quick score (QS) was derived from the measured labeling index and mean optical density after IHC and applied to a set of 152 stage II/III BC patients from 1993 to 2006 who did not receive preoperative chemotherapy. Associations between QS and tumor characteristics were evaluated using the Kruskal–Wallis test. A wide range of TRPS-1 QS was found among the sample set with higher TRPS-1 QS significantly associated with tumor ERα ( p  = 0.023 for QS and p  = 0.028 for Allred score), progesterone receptor ( p  = 0.009), and GATA-3 ( p