Molecular Predictors of Breast Cancer Metastasis

Researchers have identified two groups of proteins in breast cancer cells that seem to be indicative of the cancer's potential to spread to other sites within the body. Their findings were published in the March 2003 issue of Cancer Research.

The proteins fall into two pairs: the protease matriptase and HAI-1, which shields cells from toxic effects from matriptase; and HGF (hepatocyte growth factor) and c-Met, which comprise an important growth factor receptor system, already known to be involved in breast cancer.

Matriptase is found on the surface of healthy cells in the body and in some cancer cells, including breast cancer. In normal tissue, matriptase is only briefly activated under very specific controlled circumstances, but it is always turned on in cancerous cells. The current study employed tissue microarray analysis to follow 330 women with nonmetastatic breast cancer for 30 years after surgical treatment of the disease. High levels of both matriptase and HAI-1 were found to be predictors of breast cancer that was likely to metastasize and cause early death.

"Most women diagnosed with breast cancer that has not spread to their lymph nodes do well in the absence of chemotherapy, but because physicians lack tools to precisely identify those women least likely to relapse, they often overtreat patients,” explained contributing author Dr. Robert Dickson, professor of oncology and co-director of the breast cancer program at Georgetown University's Lombardi Cancer Center (Washington, DC, USA; www.georgetown.edu). "This research may lead us to a place where we can test tissues taken during surgery and rule out a group of women whose cancer is unlikely to spread, saving them and their loved ones the added health and financial burdens associated with chemotherapy. The research may also lead us to a new targeted way to treat cancers at risk of spreading.”



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