Expression Of DCLK1 In Breast Cancer And Its Prognostic Significance

Objective: To investigate the expression of doub Lecortin- like kinase 1(DCLK1) in breast cancer and its prognostic significance.Methods: The expression of DCLK1 was examined in paraffin- embedded tumor specimens with immunohistochemical staining from 129 patients who underwent modified radical mastectomy at the first affiliated hospital of South China university between July 2005 and December 2007.The DCLK1 immune histochemcal method testing in breast cancer and its corresponding expression level in the tissue adjacent to carcinoma.Survival curves were described by the Kaplan- Meier method and compared by the Log- rank test. Univariate and multivariate analysis was performed with the Cox proportional hazard model.Results: The expression of DCLK1 in mammary ductal carcinoma breast rate(44.9%,58/ 129)is significantly higher than that of normal breast tissue adjacent to carcinoma( 11.6%, 15/ 129)( P<0.005).Theexpression of DCLK1 has no obvious correlation with patient's age, tumor location, T stage and M stage(P > 0.05).High expression of DCLK1 in tumor cells was strongly correlated with p Nstage(P=0.02),tumor grade(P<0.001) and tumor pathologic stage(P=0.002). The expression of DCLK1 has no obvious correlation with estrogen receptor(ER) and progesterone receptor(PR)(P>0.05);High expression of DCLK1 in tumor cells was strongly correlated with Her-2 and Ki-67(P=0.001).Kapian-Meier analysis revealed that patients with DCLK1 high expression had a significantly lower 150-month overall survival rate than that of patients with DCLK1 low expression(34.0%vs67.5% P=0.001). Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that tumor grade(P=0.001),tumor staging( p=0.001)and DCLK1 expression(p=0.036) was an independent factor for predicting OS.Conclusion: High expression of DCLK1 in breast cancer cells is associated with p Nstage,tumor grade and tumor pathologic stage.High expression of DCLK1 in tumor cells was strongly correlated with Her-2 and Ki-67.Tumor grade,tumor staging and DCLK1 expression was an independent factor for predicting OS.