Background & objective: Most of breast cancer patients died of distant metastasis. There is still not a method of predicting and early diagnosing the metastasis. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between the expression of multiple tumor suppressor 1(MTS1) as well as E-cadherin and metastasis in breast cancer.
Methods: The expression of MTS1 and E-cadherin were detected by SP immunohistochemical technique in 54 paraffin-embedded tissue specimens of breast cancer.
Results: The positive rates of MTS1 in the distant metastasis group and more than 4 local lymph node metastasis group were 40.7% and 38.1%, respectively, which were lower than individual corresponding control groups (74.1% and 69.7%) (P< 0.05). The MTS1 expression rates in the three groups of pathology grade I, II, and III were 72.6%, 58.8%, and 31.3%, respectively, with significant differences (P< 0.05). The positive rates of E-cadherin in the distant metastasis group and more than 4 local lymph node metastasis group were 37% and 23.8%, respectively, which are lower than individual corresponding control groups (70.4% and 66.7%) (P< 0.05). The E-cadherin expression rates in the three groups of pathology grade I, II, III were 80.9%, 47.1%,and 25%, respectively, with significant differences (P< 0.01).
Conclusion: There was a close relation between MTS1, E-cadherin and invasion, metastasis of breast cancer. They can be used as the biological markers for evaluating the latent metastasis, disease development, and prognosis in breast cancer.