PROGNOSTIC VALUE OF CATHEPSIN-D EXPRESSION IN FEMALE BREAST-CANCER

Expression of an acidic lysosomal protease, cathepsin-D (CD), was anal ysed immunohistochemically in a series of 151 breast carcinomas with s pecial reference to its prognostic significance, Strong expression of CD was detected in 22% of cases. This intense expression was significa ntly associated with a number of established prognostic factors, inclu ding the non-ductal type of carcinoma (p=0.0243) and metastases at the time of diagnosis (p=0.0068). On the other hand, high expression of C D was not related to the lymph-node status, tumour size, ER/PR content or histological grade. Patients with CD overexpression has a signific antly lower survival probability (p=0.0478) than did the patients with low expression of this protease. The relationship between the high ex pression of CD and shelf disease-free survival was almost significant (p=0.0519). Intense immunostaining of CD was associated with a signifi cantly impaired disease outlook in patients with confirmed lymph node metastasis (N+) (p=0.0137) but not in those with negative lymph nodes (N-) (p=0.0620). In Cox's multivariate analysis, expression of CD had no independent prognostic value over the conventional prognostic facto rs. The results suggest that expression of CD is of borderline signifi cance in evaluating the intrinsic malignancy of female breast cancer i n general. The potential of CD as a prognostic factor in specific subg roups of breast cancers will be the subject of further studies.