Abstract:

Objective　To investigatethe expression of EphA2 and EphrinAl in the breast carcinoma tissue fromYunnan Dali Bai, Han and other minority women and its relation to clinicopathological parameters. Methods　The expression of EphA2 and EphrinAl in the breast carcinoma tissue was detected by the immunohistochemistry (IHC) method and was compared with theclinicopathological parameters and with each other, respectively.　Results　EphA2 and EphrinA1 were mainly expressed in cytoplasm and membrane of tumor cells and of vascular endothelial cells, showing a tan or brown color. Out of 150 cases of breast cancer tissues, the positive expression of EphA2 and EphrinA1 appeared in 123 and129 cases, and the positive rates of them are 82% and 86%, respectively. The positive expression rates of EphA2 and EphrinAlhave no significant correlation with the patient age (P>0.05), but are correlated statistically with the pathological type, tumor size, lymph node metastasis, clinical stage and histological grade (P<0.05). The positive rates of EphA2 and EphrinAl in the invasive ductal carcinoma are higher than that in the intraductal carcinoma; and the positive rates of EphA2 and EphrinAl in the group with large size, lymph node metastasis, late clinical stage and high histological grade was higher than that in the group with a small size, negative lymph node metastasis, early clinical stage and a low histological grade, respectively. The positive staining of EphA2 and EphrinAliscolocalized in roughly the same tumor areas and vascular endothelial cells.Their distributions were fundamentally unanimous and their positive expression rates were positively correlated (P<0.05).　Conclusion　Over expression of EphA2 andEphrinA1 can be observed in breast carcinoma, which isconcerned with carcinogenesis, development, invasion, metastases and malignant transformation, suggesting that EphA2 and EphrinA1 may be associated with tumour prognosis and could be used as new markers for prognosis evaluation. Our research has laid a theoretical foundation for early diagnosis and targeted therapy of breast carcinoma.

Key words: Breast carcinoma, EphA2, EphrinA1, Clinicopathological parameters