OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship of ezrin protein expression to the carcinogenesis and prognosis of infiltrating breast ductal carcinoma.

METHODSS-P immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the ezrin protein expression in 88 patients with infiltrating ductal carcinoma, and in 54 patients with intraductal hyperplastic lesions of the breast. The clinicopathological data and follow-up information of these patients were all obtained. The relationship of ezrin protein expression to the clinicopathological parameters and the prognostic significance in the infiltrating breast ductal carcinoma was analyzed using Chi-square test (chi2), Kaplan-Meier and Cox models.

RESULTSThe immunohistochemical staining results showed that the strong positive expression rate of ezrin protein in the normal ductal epithelium, simple ductal hyperplasia, atypical hyperplasia and infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the breast was 9.1%, 16.7%, 43.3% and 64.8%, respectively, which was significantly higher in atypical hyperplasia and infiltrating ductal carcinoma than that in the normal ductal epithelium and simple ductal hyperplasia (P < 0.05). The strong ezrin protein expression in the infiltrating ductal carcinoma was positively correlated with axillary lymph node metastasis, histological differentiation grade, TNM stage and CD44v6 expression, but negatively correlated with the expression of E-cadherin (P < 0.05). It was also found that the survival of the patient with strong positive expression of ezrin protein was significantly shorter than that of the control (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONEzrin protein may play an important role in the carcinogenesis of infiltrating breast ductal carcinoma. The strong expression of ezrin protein may be used as a biomarker for predicting poor prognosis in the patients with infiltrating breast ductal carcinoma.