Eph/Ephrin Profiling in Human Breast Cancer Reveals Significant Associations between Expression Level and Clinical Outcome
2011

Eph/Ephrin Profiling in Human Breast Cancer

Sample size: 295 publication 10 minutes Evidence: high

Author Information

Author(s): Brantley-Sieders Dana M., Jiang Aixiang, Sarma Krishna, Badu-Nkansah Akosua, Walter Debra L., Shyr Yu, Chen Jin

Primary Institution: Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Hypothesis

How do Eph and ephrin expression levels in human breast cancer relate to clinical outcomes such as overall and recurrence-free survival?

Conclusion

The study found significant correlations between certain Eph family members and clinical outcomes in breast cancer, suggesting they are relevant targets for intervention.

Supporting Evidence

  • Elevated RNA expression of EphA2, EphA4, EphA7, EphB4, and EphB6 correlated significantly with reduced overall survival.
  • Protein expression in tumor microarrays supported the trends observed in RNA expression.
  • Co-expression of EphA2 and ephrin-A1 was significantly associated with recurrence in Stage I breast cancer.

Takeaway

This study looked at how certain proteins in breast cancer cells can help predict how well patients will do, finding that some proteins are linked to worse outcomes.

Methodology

The study analyzed mRNA expression levels and protein expression in human breast cancer microarray datasets and tissue microarrays.

Limitations

The study did not observe significant associations between ephrin ligand expression and clinical outcomes.

Participant Demographics

The study involved breast cancer patients, with a focus on expression levels in tumor samples.

Statistical Information

P-Value

0.0002

Confidence Interval

8.52 (2.8–25.9)

Statistical Significance

p<0.05

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1371/journal.pone.0024426

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