Immunohistochemical analysis of cathepsind expression in primary breast carcinomas

Cathepsin-D is a lysosomal protease implicated in cancer métastases and its association in breast carcinomas appears to be of prognostic significance. In the present study expression of cathepsin-D was evaluated in 134 primary breast carcinomas fixed in formalin and paraffin embedded using immunohistochemical technique. Expression of cathepsin-D was analyzed in relation to clinico-pathologica! parameters and tumor markers such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), c-erbB2 and p53. Overexpression of cathepsin-D was detected in 54% of comedo ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), 65% of invasive ductal carcinomas, 71% of carcinomas containing both the in situ and invasive lesions and 20% of invasive lobular carcinomas. Significant association was observed between strong immunopositivity of cathepsin-D and lymph node status, high histological grade and EGFR but not with estrogen receptor, age of patient, c-erbB2 and p53. These observations suggest that overexpression of cathepsin-D in noninvasive, noninvasive and invasive in the same lesions and invasive carcinomas indicates that cathepsin-D may be involved in promoting tumor invasion. Its association with lymph node métastases, high tumor grade and EGFR shows that cathepsin-D may have potential to be an indicator for poor prognosis.