Increased levels of LAPTM4B, VEGF and survivin are correlated with tumor progression and poor prognosis in breast cancer patients

Abstract

// Sha Li 1 , Lu Wang 1 , Yue Meng 1 , Yanli Chang 1 , Jianjun Xu 1 and Qingyun Zhang 1 1 Department of Clinical Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research, Ministry of Education, Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute, Beijing 100142, China Correspondence to: Qingyun Zhang, email: zhqy_208@163.com Keywords: breast cancer, LAPTM4B, VEGF, survivin, prognosis Abbreviations: LAPTM4B, lysosome-associated protein transmembrane-4 beta; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor; OS, overall survival; PFS, progression-free survival Received: December 10, 2016      Accepted: March 27, 2017      Published: April 18, 2017 ABSTRACT Objective: This study explored the relationships among the expression of LAPTM4B, VEGF, and survivin and clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis in breast cancer patients. Methods: The expression of these three molecules in 110 stage I-III breast cancer patients with clinicopathological and follow-up data was detected via immunohistochemistry. Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were performed to assess the prognostic significance of these markers in breast cancer. Moreover, expression levels of these markers were evaluated in 5 breast cell lines via Western blot analysis. Results: LAPTM4B, VEGF, and survivin were over-expressed in breast cancer specimens and highly expressed in MDA-MB-231 cells. VEGF and nuclear survivin expression was significantly correlated with LAPTM4B expression, and high levels of all three were associated with a tumor size >2cm, TNM stage II+III and lymph node metastasis, which had worse impacts on overall survival and progression-free survival in breast cancer patients. A multivariate Cox analysis identified LAPTM4B over-expression as an independent prognostic marker in breast cancer. Conclusions: These findings suggest that LAPTM4B, VEGF, and nuclear survivin expression are significantly correlated in breast cancer, which may be predictive of prognosis as well as effective therapeutic targets for new anticancer therapies.