RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NEUROTENSIN RECEPTOR 1 EXPRESSION AND CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL FEATURES AND PROGNOSIS IN BREAST CANCER

Baoqi Zhang¹, Jun Liu², Yanli Gao³, Xuetang Li³, Daoyan Wang³, Yuling Sui³, Guangcai Li³, Zongqin Yao⁴, Feng Wang^{5, *}

¹Department of Surgery, Linyi Central Hospital, Linyi, PR China - ²Department of Pathology, Linyi Central Hospital, Linyi, PR China - ³Department of Pharmacy, Linyi Central Hospital, Linyi, PR China - ⁴Department of Cardiology, Linyi central hospital, Linyi, PR China - ⁵Department of Breast Surgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, PR China

Objective: To explore the relationship between the expression of neurotensin receptor 1 (NTR1) in breast cancer and its clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis.

Methods: The 132 cases of breast cancer tissues and 30 cases of normal paracancer tissues that were used in this study originated from the surgical resection samples of our hospital between January 2013 to May 2014. The expression of NTR1 in cancer tissues and paracancerous tissues was detected by the immunohistochemistry method, and the correlation between the expression of NTR1 in breast cancer and clinicopathological parameters and prognosis was revealed.

Results: The positive expression rate of NTR1 in breast cancer tissues was 70.45% (93/132), and the positive expression rate in the normal adjacent tissues was 0% (0/30), with the difference between the two groups being statistically significant (P<0.05). The expression level of NTR1 correlated with tumour diameter, lymph node metastasis, and tumour grade in patients with breast cancer, but not with the TNM stage, menopausal status, estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (P>0.05). The 5-year survival rate of patients with a positive expression of NTR1 was 68.82% (64/93), and patients with a negative expression of NTR1 had a survival rate of 89.74% (35/39). As such, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The expression of NTR1 and lymph node metastasis can also independently affect the prognosis of breast cancer patients.

Conclusion: The expression of NTR1 in breast cancer is significantly increased, suggesting that it plays a significant role in the progression of breast cancer. At the same time, the positive expression of NTR1 is closely related to tumour diameter, lymph node metastasis, and tumour grades in patients with breast cancer, In addition, its expression can independently affect the prognosis of breast cancer patients, which is an important index for clinical evaluation and the future treatment methods of breast cancer.