AEG-1 expression in invasive ductal and lobular breast cancers and its relationship with prognostic parameters

Aim: The astrocyte-elevated gene-1 (AEG-1, also known as metadherin) is associated with various aspects of tumour malignancy; however, little knowledge is available related to the role of AEG-1 in ductal and lobular carcinomas. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of AEG-1 with the prognostic parameters in invasive ductal and lobular carcinomas. Materials and methods: This study was conducted on a total of 72 paraffin-embedded breast tumour samples. They consisted of 61 ductal and 11 lobular carcinomas. Breast tumour samples were stained for AEG-1. The prognostic parameters were compared with the results of AEG-1 stains. Results: We observed that more ductal carcinoma types than lobular carcinoma types resulted in high AEG-1 staining, whereas low AEG-1 staining occurred more in lobular carcinomas than in ductal carcinomas (P = 0.05). A significant negative correlation was also found between HER-2 (r = -0.30, P = 0.019) and AEG-1 (r = -0.804, P = 0.003) in lobular carcinomas. A significant relationship was found between increasing numbers of positive lymph nodes and AEG-1 in ductal carcinoma cases (P = 0.05). Conclusion: These results are consistent with previous reports of the role of AEG-1 in tumour progression. AEG-1 could be a useful marker for the development of new treatments and resistant hormonal therapy.