Abstract:

Objective     To investigate expressions of cysteinyl aspartate specific protease-3(Caspase-3), osteopontin(OPN) and Ezrin in invasive ductal carcinoma(IDC) of breasts and their relationship with clinicopathological characteristics. Methods     Expressions of Caspase-3, OPN and Ezrin were detected in 71 IDC tissues and 33 normal mammary specimens with the immunohistochemical streptavidin-perosidase (SP) method, and their relationship with clinical pathological characteristics was analyzed. Results     Positive rates of Caspase-3, OPN and Ezrin in IDC tissues(43.66%, 74.65% and 64.79%, respectively) were significantly different from those in normal mammary tissues(75.76%, 33.33% and 39.39%, respectively) (P<0.05). Also, expressions of Caspase-3, OPN and Ezrin in IDC tissues had a significant relationship with lymph node metastasis and recurrence of the tumor (P<0.05), while they had no significant relationship with expressions of ER, PR and Her2. Expression of Caspase-3 was negatively related to those of OPN and Ezrin in IDC (r=-0.258, -0.313), while expression of OPN was positively related to that of Ezrin (r=0.29).  Conclusion    Abnormal expressions of Caspase-3, OPN and Ezrin play important roles in the occurrence and development of IDC of breasts.

Key words: Breast tumor; Cysteinyl aspartate specific protease; Osteopontin; Ezrin