Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Nov 7:9:6865-6871.
doi: 10.2147/OTT.S109606. eCollection 2016.

NOTCH1 is a poor prognostic factor for breast cancer and is associated with breast cancer stem cells

Ying Zhong  1 , Songjie Shen  1 , Yidong Zhou  1 , Feng Mao  1 , Yan Lin  1 , Jinghong Guan  1 , Yali Xu  1 , Shu Zhang  2 , Xu Liu  3 , Qiang Sun  1
Affiliations

NOTCH1 is a poor prognostic factor for breast cancer and is associated with breast cancer stem cells

Ying Zhong et al. Onco Targets Ther. .

Abstract

Recently, the human gene NOTCH1 has been found to be implicated in cancer cell metastasis and the maintenance of cancer stem cells. However, for breast cancer in particular, an association between NOTCH1 levels and metastasis has not been determined. In this study, we investigated the expression status and correlation of NOTCH1 with clinically important factors related to metastasis and the cancer stem cell marker ALDH1. NOTCH1 and ALDH1 levels in 115 tumor tissues from primary lesions were determined by immunohistochemical staining. Most tissues were stained positive for both NOTCH1 and ALDH1, and NOTCH1 positivity was significantly associated with ALDH1 levels. NOTCH1 levels were significantly associated with TNM stage, metastasis, and triple-negative breast cancer. Moreover, both univariate and multivariate regression analyses revealed that basal-like features and NOTCH1 positivity were associated with disease-free survival as independent predictors. These analyses indicated that breast cancer patients testing positive for NOTCH1 had shorter disease-free survival. Our findings suggest that NOTCH1 may be involved in metastasis and is closely correlated with breast cancer stem cells.

Keywords: ALDH1; NOTCH1; breast cancer; cancer stem cell; metastasis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Immunohistochemical staining for ALDH1 (400× magnification). Notes: (A) ALDH1+; (B) ALDH1−.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Immunohistochemical staining for NOTCH1 (400× magnification). Notes: (A) NOTCH1+; (B) NOTCH1−.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Relationship between NOTCH1 and metastasis, recurrence. Notes: (A) Association between NOTCH1 positivity and metastasis. The number of patients with and without metastasis according to presence of NOTCH1 in tumor tissues. P-values from χ2 tests are shown. (B) Association between NOTCH1 positivity and recurrence. The number of patients with and without recurrence according to presence of NOTCH1 in tumor tissues. P-values from χ2 tests are shown.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Hanahan D, Weinberg RA. Hallmarks of cancer: the next generation. Cell. 2011;144(5):646–674. - PubMed
    1. Prager GW, Poettler M. Angiogenesis in cancer: basic mechanisms and therapeutic advances. Hamostaseologie. 2012;32(2):105–114. - PubMed
    1. Bridges E, Oon CE, Harris A. Notch regulation of tumor angiogenesis. Future Oncol. 2011;7(4):569–588. - PubMed
    1. Guo S, Liu M, Gonzalez-Perez RR. Role of Notch and its oncogenic signaling crosstalk in breast cancer. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2011;1815(2):197–213. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Borggrefe T, Oswald F. The Notch signaling pathway: transcriptional regulation at Notch target genes. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2009;66(10):1631–1646. - PMC - PubMed