Expression of 14-3-3γ in patients with breast cancer: Correlation with clinicopathological features and prognosis

Aim: Protein 14-3-3 gamma is an important member of the 14-3-3 family that play important roles in the regulation of various cellular processes. The aim of the study is to investigate the association between 14-3-3 gamma expression and the clinicopathological features of patients with breast cancer. Methods: The expression of 14-3-3 gamma was detected by Western blot in both foci of breast cancer and adjacent non-cancerous tissues. In addition, 14-3-3 gamma expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry in 60 clinicopathologically characterized breast cancer cases. The association of 14-3-3 gamma expression with survival of the patients were analyzed. Results: The expression level of 14-3-3 gamma protein in breast cancer were significantly higher than that in non-cancerous mammary gland tissues. Moreover, high expression of 14-3-3 gamma correlated with tumor size and tumor grade (all P < 0.05). Patients with high 14-3-3 gamma expression had worse overall survival rate than that with low expression (P < 0.05). Furthermore, multivariate analysis showed that 14-3-3 gamma expression was an independent predictor of overall survival (HR, 0.196; 95% CI, 0.043-0.892; P = 0.035). Conclusions: Our data suggest for the first time that the increased expression of 14-3-3 gamma in breast cancer is associated significantly with tumor progression and poor prognosis. 14-3-3 gamma may be a novel and potential prognostic marker for breast cancer. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.