Prognostic significance of UBE2C mRNA expression in high-risk early breast cancer. A Hellenic Cooperative Oncology Group (HeCOG) Study
Menée sur 595 patientes atteintes d'un cancer du sein et présentant un risque élevé de récidive, cette étude grecque évalue l'association entre le niveau d'expression de l'ARN messager de l'ubiquitine conjuguée à l'enzyme E2 et la survie des patientes
Background: The ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS) plays a pivotal role in tumorigenesis. Components of the UPS have recently been implicated in breast cancer progression. In the present study, we sought to explore the prognostic and/or predictive significance of UBE2C messenger RNA (mRNA) expression on disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in high-risk operable breast cancer patients.Methods: Five hundred and ninety-five high-risk breast cancer patients were treated in a two-arm trial evaluating postoperative, dose-dense sequential chemotherapy with epirubicin followed by CMF (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil) with or without paclitaxel (Taxol). RNA was extracted from 313 formalin-fixed primary tumor tissue samples followed by one-step quantitative RT-PCR for assessment of mRNA expression of UBE2C.Results: High UBE2C mRNA expression was associated with poor DFS (Wald's P = 0.003) and OS (Wald's P = 0.005). High tumor grade, as well as high Ki67 protein expression, was more frequent in the high-expression group of UBE2C. Results of the Cox multivariate regression analysis revealed that high UBE2C mRNA expression remained an independent adverse prognostic factor for relapse (P = 0.037) and death (P = 0.05).Conclusions: High UBE2C mRNA expression was found to be of adverse prognostic significance in high-risk breast cancer patients. These findings need to be validated in larger cohorts.
Annals of Oncology , résumé, 2011