Expression profile of Wnt/β-Catenin signalling molecules and the Wnt antagonist secreted frizzled-related protein 4 in apoptosis in breast cancer tissue micro-arrays

A. Clare Berry, Adrian Charles, Nikolajs Zeps, D. Mark Cregan, Frank Arfuso, Arun Dharmarajan

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Abstract

Wnt proteins are often up-regulated in cancer. The secreted frizzled-related proteins (sFRPs) can abrogate Wnt signalling and are involved in apoptosis. We investigated the expression of Wnt1, β-Catenin, and an antagonist, sFRP4, as well as apoptosis in breast cancer using tissue micro-arrays (TMAs) comprising 191 tissue cores. Results demonstrated stronger staining intensity for Wnt1 in tumour versus non-tumour samples (p<0.05). Epithelial sFRP4 did not differ between invasive and non-invasive tissue; however, there was increased sFRP4 expression in the blood vessels and lymphocyte cells of tumour compared to non-tumour tissue. These data suggest Wnt involvement in determining the breast cancer phenotype and highlight a potential new role for sFRP4 as a diagnostic/prognostic marker.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)205-212
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Analytical Oncology
Volume3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 29 Oct 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Breast
  • Cancer
  • Secreted frizzled-related protein 4
  • Tissue micro-arrays
  • Wnt

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