PLC-beta2 is highly expressed in breast cancer and is associated with a poor outcome: a study on tissue microarrays

Despite the identification of many putative biomarkers in breast cancer, a specific pattern of proteins to be used as a prognosticator is not well defined. A growing body of evidence supports the role of phospholipase C (PLC) in the invasion and metastasis of different tumors, including breast cancer. To assess whether the expression of specific PLC isoforms correlates with malignancy-related features of human breast tumors and, hence, could have prognostic significance, an immunohistochemical analysis of PLC-beta2 was performed on tissue microarrays and the relationship between PLC-beta2 expression and biological and clinico-pathological factors was assessed. The analysis of 77 samples of breast tumors with different histotypes revealed that PLC-beta2 is highly expressed in a large majority of the analyzed cancer tissue, particularly ductal and lobular carcinomas, in comparison with normal breast. The expression of PLC-beta2 in primary tumors correlated with size, proliferation index and final grade, while no significant relationship was observed with nodal status or estrogen receptor levels, or with the expression of tumor suppressor p53. Remarkably, high PLC-beta2 levels in primary tumors predict an unfavourable prognosis, suggesting the contribution of this protein to the progression of human mammary carcinomas. Our data indicate that PLC-beta2 expression correlates highly with breast cancer malignancy and suggest that it can be included, as an independent marker, among the prognostic indicators in current use.