ADAM12 expression predicts clinical outcome in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer

Our study was aimed to make sure whether ADAM12 could serve as a prognostic biomarker of estrogen receptor (ER) -positive breast cancer.

127 patients with ER-positive breast cancer were included in the present study. The level of ADAM12 was assayed through real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). Levels of ADAM12 in tumor tissues and adjacent normal tissues were compared with paired t-test. The association of ADAM12 expression with clinical characteristics was analyzed via χ(2) test. Kaplan-Meier survival curve was used to evaluate the role of ADAM12 expression in overall survival (OS) of patients. Cox-regression analysis was performed to judge if ADAM12 could serve as a prognostic marker in breast cancer.

The level of ADAM12 was upregulated in tumor tissues of breast cancer compared to that of adjacent normal tissues (P < 0.05). The expression of ADAM12 was closely related to the Ki-67 and HER2 status (P < 0.05 for both). The results of Kaplan-Meier survival curve showed that patients with higher level of ADAM12 exhibited shorter survival time compared to that of low level of ADAM12 (P < 0.001). Cox regression analysis showed that ADAM12 might be a biomarker in predicting prognosis of patients with ER-positive breast cancer (HR = 7.116, 95% CI = 3.329-15.212).

ADAM12 appears to be a prognostic marker in ER-positive breast cancer.