Aim: To analyze the expression of CK20 in human breast cancer, and to evaluate the association between its expression and tumor's progression and prognosis.
Methods: 86 cases with breast cancer, 20 cases of benign tumor tissues were examined for the expression of CK20 by immunohistochemical staining.
Results: The positive rate of CK20 expression in breast cancer was 80.23% (69/86), which was significantly higher than that in benign tumor tissues of breast [20.00% (4/20), P<0.01]. CK20 expression was associated with the histologic grades (P<0.05) and the pathological types (P<0.01). The expression of CK20 was observed to correlate positively with TNM stages (r=0.86, P<0.05), lymph node status (r=0.73, P<0.05) and HER-2 status (r=0.69, P<0.05), and correlate negatively with ER status (r=-0.58, P<0.05). Moreover, Kaplan Meier curves of overall survival analysis showed a significant difference between CK20 positive groups and negative group (P<0.01).
Conclusion: The results suggest that the expression of CK20 may be associated with the progression and prognosis of breast cancer.