PROGNOSTIC VALUE OF CATHEPSIN-D EXPRESSION AND ASSOCIATION WITH HISTOMORPHOLOGICAL SUBTYPES IN BREAST-CANCER

This study investigated the prognostic value of immunohistochemically detected cathepsin D expression in 103 invasive ductal carcinomas of t he breast at stages pT1 and 2, We also assessed the association betwee n cathepsin D expression and histomorphological tumour subtypes (invas ive ductal carcinoma with extensive intraductal component, multifocal tumour). Cathepsin D expression was examined at two cut-off levels (po sitive and highly positive) and separately identified within the epith elial and stromal component of all tumours, Positive and highly positi ve epithelial expression was detected in 32 (31.1%) and 20 (19.4%) pat ients respectively. Stromal expression was found in 35 (34%) and 19 (1 8.4%) cases respectively. Epithelial cathepsin D expression was associ ated with stage and nuclear grade, but not with lymph node or oestroge n receptor status. Positive and highly positive epithelial cathepsin D expression showed significant prognostic value for overall survival ( P=0.003 and 0.01) and recurrence-free interval (P=0.04 and 0.02), Cath epsin D expression in stromal cells was not associated with either sev eral established prognostic factors or survival, Multivariate analysis revealed that cathepsin D expression failed to be an independent pred ictor of patients' outcome, Cathepsin D expression shows no significan t association with histomorphological subtypes of breast cancer, Our s tudy supports the prognostic impact of immunohistochemically detected cathepsin D expression in the epithelial component of breast cancer.