Abstract:
Objective:To investigate the expression of DLC 1 and DLC1-mRNA and the correlation between these and cancerous and non-cancerous tissue of the breast. Methods:EnVision immunohistochemical method and in situ hybridiza -tion were used to detect the expression of DLC 1 protein and DLCI mRNA in52invasive breast ductal carcinomas and 42 non-cancerous mammary tissue samples, including 20paracancerous mammary tissue samples and 22mammary fibroad-enomas. The correlations between the expression of DLC 1 and DLC 1-mRNA in the breast carcinomas and clinicopathologi -cal parameters including patient age, maximum tumor size, tumor histological grade, axillary lymph node metastasis and TNM stage were analyzed.Results: The positive expression rates of DLC 1-mRNA and DLC 1 protein in the breast carcino -mas and non-cancerous breast tissue were (57.7% ,50.0% ) and(92.9% ,90.5% ), respectively. The positive expression rates of DLC 1 and DLC 1-mRNA were significantly lower in breast carcinomas than in non-cancerous mammary tissue (χ2=14.717 , P=0.000 ; χ2=17.518 , P=0.000 ). All the differences between the 2 groups had statistical significance ( P<0.001 ). Cor -relation analysis showed that the expression of DLC 1 protein and DLC1-mRNA in invasive breast ductal carcinomas were negatively correlated to tumor histological grade (rs=- 0.811 , P=0.000 ; rs=- 0.422 , P<0.05), axillary lymph node metastasis (r s=- 0.410 , P<0.01; rs=- 0.445 , P<0.01) and TNM stage (rs=- 0.319 , P<0.05; rs=- 0.405 , P<0.05). The expression of DLC1-mRNA in invasive ductal breast carcinomas was negatively correlated with tumor size (rs=- 0.347 , P<0.05). There was no significant correlation between the positive expression rate of DLC1 and tumor size (r s=0.073 , P>0.05). There were no significant correlations between the positive expression rates of DLC 1and DLC1-mRNA and patient age (r s=0.077 ; rs=0.008 ;P>0.05). Conclusion:Lower or no expression of DLC 1 and DLC 1-mRNA may play an important role in malignant pro -gression in breast carcinoma. Combining related clinicopathological parameters with detection of the expression of DLC1 and DLC 1-mRNA may be useful parameters for evaluating the biological behavior and the prognosis of breast carcinoma.