RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CATHEPSIN-D AND OTHER PROGNOSTIC FACTORS IN HUMAN BREAST-CANCER

Cathepsin-D (CATH-D) is a lysosomal protease induced by estrogens in e strogen receptor-positive breast cancer cell lines and constitutively produced by estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer cells. The concen tration of CATH-D in the cytosol of 97 human breast tumor tissues was correlated with other well-known Prognostic factors for human breast c ancer. CATH-D was significantly higher in node-positive than in node-n egative tumors (P=0.042, Kruskal-Wallis test). However, no correlation was found between enzyme levels and the number of positive nodes. CAT H-D concentration did not correlate with age, menopausal status, clini cal stage of the disease, sire of the primary tumor, steroid receptors , thymidine labelling index, histological grade, nuclear grade or cell ularity. CATH-D did not show any association with the known prognostic factors evaluated in this study and its association with lymph nodes was only weak.