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Prognostic relevance of AGR2 expression in breast cancer
Florian Rudolf Fritzsche1, Edgar Dahl, Stefan Pahl
1Institute of Pathology and Breast Centre, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Purpose:
We aimed to evaluate the expression of the human anterior gradient-2 (AGR2) in breast cancer on RNA and protein level and to correlate it with clinicopathologic data, including patient survival.
Experimental Design:
AGR2 mRNA expression was assessed by reverse transcription-PCR in 25 breast cancer samples and normal tissues. A polyclonal rabbit AGR antiserum was used for immunohistochemistry on 155 clinicopathologically characterized cases. Statistical analyses were applied to test for prognostic and diagnostic associations.
Results:
Immunohistochemical detection of AGR2 was statistically significantly associated with positive estrogen receptor status and lower tumor grade. AGR2-positive tumors showed significantly longer overall survival times in univariate analyses. For the subgroup of nodal-negative tumors, an independent prognostic value of AGR2 was found.
Conclusions:
The expression of AGR2 in breast cancer is strongly associated with markers of tumor differentiation (estrogen receptor positivity, lower tumor grade). A prognostic effect of AGR2 for overall survival could be shown, which became independently significant for the group of nodal-negative tumors.