1.Tumour cell membrane laminin expression is associated with basal-like phenotype and poor survival in Nigerian breast cancer
Agboola Aoj ; Ebili Ho ; Iyawe Vo ; Banjo Aaf ; Salami Bs ; Rakha Ea ; Nolan C ; Ellis Io ; Green Ar
The Malaysian Journal of Pathology 2016;38(2):83-92
Introduction: Laminin is a glycoprotein with diverse functions in carcinogenesis including cell
proliferation, invasion, metastases and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). In breast cancer
(BC) laminin expression is speculated to be associated with unfavourable clinicopathological and
molecular characteristics. We hypothesize that laminin expression would contributed to the aggressive
nature of basal like and triple negative BC phenotype observed in Black women. Methods: The
expression of laminin was determined in a well-characterised Nigerian cohort of 255 BC using tissue
microarray and immunohistochemistry. Laminin expression was compared with clinical, pathological
and survival characteristics. Results: Laminin was expressed in 146 (57.3%) cases and significantly
correlated with younger age at diagnosis (p=0.005), premenopausal status (p=0.003), expression
of EGFR (p=0.002), ID4 and MTA1, basal cytokeratin 5/6, p53, and triple negative tumours (all
p<0.001). In addition, there was an inverse association of laminin expression with E-cadherin (p=0.03),
ER and PgR (all p<0.001) and a trend with BRCA1 (p=0.05). Univariate survival analysis showed
tumours positive for laminin had significantly poorer breast cancer specific survival (BCSS, p=0.009)
and disease free interval (p=0.03), but not associated in Cox multivariate analysis. Conclusion:
This study demonstrates that laminin expression may have important roles in the aggressive nature
observed in the basal-like and triple negative molecular subtype of Nigerian BC women.