MCP-1 expression in breast cancer and its association with distant relapse

Bridie S Mulholland; Pierre Hofstee; Ewan K A Millar; Dana Bliuc; Sandra O'Toole; Mark R Forwood; Michelle M McDonald

doi:10.1002/cam4.6284

MCP-1 expression in breast cancer and its association with distant relapse

Cancer Med. 2023 Aug;12(15):16221-16230. doi: 10.1002/cam4.6284. Epub 2023 Jun 21.

Authors

Bridie S Mulholland^{1

2}, Pierre Hofstee^{1

3}, Ewan K A Millar^{4

5

6}, Dana Bliuc⁷, Sandra O'Toole^{6

8

9}, Mark R Forwood¹⁰, Michelle M McDonald^{7

11}

Affiliations

¹ Graduate School of Medicine, Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
² Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
³ The Tweed Hospital, Northern New South Wales Local Health District, Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia.
⁴ St George and Sutherland Clinical Campuses, School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine and Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁵ Department of Anatomical Pathology, NSW Health Pathology, St George Hospital, Kogarah, Australia.
⁶ Translational Breast Cancer Research Group, Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁷ Bone Microenvironment Group, Skeletal Diseases Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁸ Department of Tissue Pathology and Diagnostic Pathology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
⁹ Sydney Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
¹⁰ School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
¹¹ School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.

Abstract

Background: Distant relapse of breast cancer complicates management of the disease and accounts for 90% of breast cancer-related deaths. Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) has critical roles in breast cancer progression and is widely accepted as a pro-metastatic chemokine.

Methods: This study explored MCP-1 expression in the primary tumour of 251 breast cancer patients. A simplified 'histoscore' was used to determine if each tumour had high or low expression of MCP-1. Patient breast cancers were retrospectively staged based on available patient data. p < 0.05 was used to determine significance and changes in hazard ratios between models were considered.

Results: Low MCP-1 expression in the primary tumour was associated with breast cancer-related death with distant relapse in ER- breast cancers (p < 0.01); however, this was likely a result of most low MCP-1-expressing ER- breast cancers being Stage III or Stage IV, with high MCP-1 expression in the primary tumour significantly correlated with Stage I breast cancers (p < 0.05). Expression of MCP-1 in the primary ER- tumours varied across Stage I, II, III and IV and we highlighted a switch in MCP-1 expression from high in Stage I ER- cancers to low in Stage IV ER- cancers.

Conclusion: This study has emphasised a critical need for further investigation into MCP-1's role in breast cancer progression and improved characterisation of MCP-1 in breast cancers, particularly in light of the development of anti-MCP-1, anti-metastatic therapies.

Keywords: CCL2; metastasis; neoplasm; protein; tumour.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Breast / pathology
Breast Neoplasms* / pathology
Chemokine CCL2 / genetics
Chronic Disease
Female
Humans
Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / pathology
Retrospective Studies

Substances

Chemokine CCL2