Prolactin receptor expression as a novel prognostic biomarker for triple negative breast cancer patients

چکیده مقاله

Prolactin receptor (PRLR) is a novel emerging prognostic biomarker in different cancers, especially in breast
cancer. However, there is limited information about the association of PRLR expression and triple-negative
breast cancers (TNBC) prognosis. In this study, 80 TNBC patients were evaluated for PRLR expression by immunohistochemistry.
The correlation of PRLR expression with clinicopathological features, patient recurrence,
and survival was investigated. PRLR expression was considered positive if>10% of tumor cells were stained.
The Fisher's exact test was used to analyze PRLR expression relation with the clinicopathological parameters.
Survival distribution was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Positive immunoreactivity for PRLR was observed
in 50 out of 80 (62%) specimens. Although expression of PRLR was associated with TNBC patients' stage,
no-correlation was observed between its expression and tumor size, grade, lymph node status, and Ki-67 expression.
In addition, patients with positive expression of PRLR exhibited lower recurrence (P = 0.0027) and
higher overall survival (P = 0.0285) in comparison with negative expression group. In multivariate analyses,
positive expression of PRLR was an independent prognostic marker for lower recurrence (P < 0.001) and higher
overall survival (P < 0.001). Therefore, PRLR plays a crucial role in TNBC and has to be considered as an
independent prognostic biomarker for TNBC patients.