Role of epithelial - Stromal interaction protein-1 expression in breast cancer

Epithelial stromal interaction protein-1 (EPSTI-1) is originally identified as stromal-fibroblast - induced gene in breast cancer. It was found to be involved in promotion of EMT, breast cancer invasion, metastasis and anchorage-independent growth in vitro. Strong expression was observed in various tissues as well as higher expression was observed in invasive breast cancer compared to normal breast. EPSTI-1 expression was evaluated from 106 pre-therapeutic breast cancer patients. EPSTI-1 expression was correlated with known clinico-pathological parameters of breast cancer to explore its role in breast carcinogenesis.

EPSTI-1 expression was analyzed from the collected synchronous tissues [tumors, Malignant Lymph nodes (LN) and adjacent normal tissues (ANT)] of breast carcinoma patients (N = 106). The statistical correlation was performed using SPSS 16.0.

In this study EPSTI-1 was significantly higher in LN compared to tumors (P < 0.001), and in tumors compared to ANT (P < 0.01) which is also reflected in ROC curve analysis (P < 0.0001). Further the small tumor size, stage I, grade I and tumors without stromal involvement exhibited significant lower expression compared to their counter parts.

EPSTI-1 may have significant role in epithelial stromal interaction and disease extension. Moreover, it may be responsible for aggressive tumor behavior and involved in metastatic process which needs to be validated in larger cohort.