Comedo-DCIS is a precursor lesion for basal-like breast carcinoma: identification of a novel p63/Her2/neu expressing subgroup.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Shekhar, Malathy P.V. Kato, Ikuko Nangia-Makker, Pratima Tait, Larry
Copyright Year	2013
Abstract	Basal breast cancer comprises ~15% of invasive ductal breast cancers, and presents as high-grade lesions with aggressive clinical behavior. Basal breast carcinomas express p63 and cytokeratin 5 (CK5) antigens characteristic of the myoepithelial lineage, and typically lack Her2/neu and hormone receptor expression. However, there is limited data about the precursor lesions from which they emerge. Here we wished to determine whether comedo-ductal carcinoma in situ (comedo-DCIS), a high-risk in situ breast lesion, serve as precursors for basal-like breast cancer. To determine this link, p63, CK5, Her2/neu, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR) expression were analyzed by immunohistochemistry in 17 clinical comedo- and 12 noncomedo-DCIS cases, and in tumors derived from unfractionated and CK5-overexpressing subpopulation (MCF10DCIS.com-CK5high) of MCF10DCIS.com cells, a model representative of clinical comedo-DCIS. p63 and Her2/neu coexpression was analyzed by immunofluorescence double labeling. A novel p63/CK5/Her2/neu expressing subpopulation of cells that are ER−/PgR−/EGFR− were identified in the myoepithelial and luminal areas of clinical comedo-DCIS and tumors derived from unfractionated MCF10DCIS.com and MCF10DCIS.com-CK5high cells. These data suggest that p63 and Her2/neu expressors may share a common precursor intermediate. P63, but not Her2/neu, expression was significantly associated (P = 0.038) with microinvasion/recurrence of clinical comedo-DCIS, and simultaneous expression of p63 and Her2/neu was marginally associated (P = 0.067) with comedo-DCIS. These data suggest that p63/Her2/neu expressing precursor intermediate in comedo-DCIS may provide a cellular basis for emergence of p63+/Her2/neu- or p63+/Her2/neu+ basal-like breast cancer, and that p63/Her2/neu coexpression may serve as biomarkers for identification of this subgroup of basal-like breast cancers.
Journal	Oncotarget
Volume Number	4
PubMed Central reference number	PMC3712569
Issue Number	2
PubMed reference number	23548208
e-ISSN	19492553
DOI	10.18632/oncotarget.818
Language	English
Publisher	Impact Journals LLC
Publisher Date	2013-02-01
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited Copyright: © 2013 Shekhar et al.
Subject Keyword	breast cancer p63 Her2/neu cytokeratin EGFR
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Oncology