Decreased expression of C-erbB-2 and CXCR4 in breast cancer after primary chemotherapy

• Published in: Journal of translational medicine 2012-09, Vol.10 Suppl 1 (S1), p.S3-S3, Article S3
• Main Authors: Yang, Shi-Xin, Loo, Wings T Y, Chow, Louis W C, Yang, Xin-hua, Zhan, Yi, Fan, Lin-Jun, Zhang, Fan, Chen, Li, Wang, Qing-liang, Xiao, Hua-Liang, Wu, Jin-Long, Bian, Xiu-wu, Jiang, Jun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Biotechnology; Blotting, Western; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - drug therapy; Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Cancer therapies; Chemotherapy; Estrogen Receptor alpha - metabolism; Female; Hospitals; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Middle Aged; Oncology; Proceedings; Receptor, ErbB-2 - metabolism; Receptors, CXCR4 - metabolism; Staining and Labeling; Studies; Treatment Outcome; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1479-5876; 1479-5876
• DOI: 10.1186/1479-5876-10-S1-S3

Biological molecular markers such as proto-oncogene erbB-2 (HER-2/neu, c-erbB-2), the CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4), estrogen receptor (ER), Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA), DNA topoisomerase II (topo II), P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) were observed for changes after administration of neochemotherapy and whether these protein expression changes were correlated with response to chemotherapy. Sixty-four patients with primary breast cancer who had undergone neo-adjuvant chemotherapy were enrolled in the present study. The expressions of C-erbB-2, CXCR4 and ER-α were measured by immunohistochemistry (IHC) on full tissue sections and on tissue microarrays (TMAs). PCNA, TopoII, P-gp and GST were measured by IHC on TMAs. On the other hand, CXCR4, C-erbB-2 and ER-α expressions were detected using western blot analysis to 16 pairs of fresh preoperative core biopsies. The final surgical specimens were obtained from patients with breast carcinoma who received neo-adjuvant chemotherapy and obtained a partial response (PR). Our data demonstrated that the levels of C-erbB-2, CXCR4 and ER-α in patients decreased after they received neo-adjuvant chemotherapy on full tissue sections and on TMAs. The PCNA level was down-regulated after receiving neo-adjuvant chemotherapy, and no significant change was observed for TopoII, P-gp and GST. The levels of C-erbB-2, CXCR4 and ER-α were also down-regulated after neo-adjuvant chemotherapy was administered, as detected by western blot. In addition, the change expressions of C-erbB-2 and CXCR4 in specimens tended to be correlated with pathological change to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy on full tissue sections and on TMAs in a Pearson chi-square analysis. As demonstrated in our study, after breast cancer patients were treated with neo-adjuvant systemic therapy, decreased expressions of C-erbB2, ER-α and CXCR4 were observed. Down-regulated expressions of c-erbB-2 and CXCR4 may be a novel mechanism of chemotherapy; the changes of these objective markers may be useful in evaluating the clinical response of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer.