Invasive breast cancer in Argentine women: association between risk and prognostic factors with antigens of a peptidic and carbohydrate nature

Sandra O Demichelis, Marina T Isla-Larrain, Luciano Cermignani, Cecilio G Alberdi, Amada Segal-Eiras, María Virginia Croce
Centre of Basic and Applied Immunological Research, Faculty of Medical Sciences, National University of La Plata, La Plata, Argentina

Objective: In breast cancer, several tumor markers have been identified. The marker most extensively associated with breast cancer is MUC1. The objective of the study was to analyze prognostic and risk factors in relation to tumor markers in order to clarify breast cancer biology. A total of 349 primary tumor samples and lymph nodes from breast cancer patients were studied. Risk and prognostic factors were considered. An immunohistochemical approach was applied and an extensive statistical analysis was performed, including frequency analysis and analysis of variance. Correlation among variables was performed with principal component analysis.
Results: All the antigens showed an increased expression according to tumor size increment; moreover, sialyl Lewis x expression showed a significant increase in relation to disease stage, whereas Tn and TF presented a positive tendency. Vascular invasion was related to sialyl Lewis x expression and number of metastatic lymph nodes. Taking into account risk factors, when a patient had at least one child, Lewis antigens diminished their expression. In relation to breastfeeding, sialyl Lewis x expression diminished, although its apical expression increased.
Conclusion: Associations between MUC1 and carbohydrate antigens and risk and prognostic factors show the complexity of the cellular biological behavior that these antigens modulate in breast cancer.

Keywords: breast cancer, Argentine women, risk factors, prognostic factors, antigenic expression