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  • Prognostic value of vitamin D receptor and insulin-like growth factor receptor 1 expression in triple-negative breast cancer

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Original article
Prognostic value of vitamin D receptor and insulin-like growth factor receptor 1 expression in triple-negative breast cancer
  1. Martina Soljic1,
  2. Ivana Mrklic2,
  3. Snjezana Tomic2,
  4. Tomislav Omrcen3,
  5. Nikica Sutalo4,
  6. Milenko Bevanda5,
  7. Eduard Vrdoljak3
  1. 1 Department of Thoracic Surgery, Clinical Hospital Mostar, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
  2. 2 Department of Pathology, Forensic Medicine and Cytology, Split University Hospital Center, Split, Croatia
  3. 3 Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Split University Hospital Center, Split, Croatia
  4. 4 Department of General Surgery, Clinical Hospital Mostar, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
  5. 5 Department of Internal Medicine, Clinical Hospital Mostar, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
  1. Correspondence to Dr Martina Soljic, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Clinical Hospital Mostar, Bijeli Brijeg bb, 88000 Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina; msoljic{at}gmail.com

Abstract

Aim Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is characterised by shorter overall survival and an early peak of distant recurrences with still no specific targeted treatment available. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) and insulin-like growth factor receptor 1 (IGFR) have recently been described as potential new targets for anticancer therapy, yet their roles in TNBCs are still to be explored. In this study we investigated VDR and IGFR expression in patients with TNBC and compared them with clinical and pathological parameters and survival to possibly demonstrate their prognostic and therapeutic relevance.

Methods The study included 96 patients with TNBC. Clinical and pathological parameters were compared with the immunohistochemical expression of VDR and IGFR.

Results Positive VDR immunostaining was present in 27% of tumours and inversely correlated with higher mitotic score, histological grade and higher proliferation index measured by Ki-67 and related to the increased overall survival (OS). Out of 96 patients with TNBC, 35.5% of tumours were IGFR positive and correlated with higher mitotic score and Ki-67, and strongly correlated with shorter disease-free survival (DFS). Patients with VDR-negative and IGF-positive tumours had significantly lower DFS and OS.

Conclusion Approximately one third of TNBCs express VDR and/or IGFR. Their expression is linked with the recurrence of the disease and survival, which make them possible targets for treatment and a prognostic tool for dividing TNBCs into more homogeneous subgroups.

  • triple negative breast cancer
  • vitamin D receptor
  • insulin growth factor receptor 1
  • survival

https://doi.org/10.1136/jclinpath-2016-204222

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    Footnotes

    • Handling editor Cheok Soon Lee.

    • Contributors MS, IM: data acquisition, data analysis and interpretation. ST: data analysis and interpretation, critical revision of the manuscript for scientific and factual content. TO: data acquisition, data analysis and interpretation. NS: data acquisition. MB: statistical and scientific supervision. EV: critical revision of themanuscript for scientific and factual content.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Ethics approval University School of Medicine, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Correction notice This paper has been amended since it was published Online First. Owing to a scripting error, some of the publisher names in the references were replaced with ’BMJ Publishing Group'. This only affected the full text version, not the PDF. We have since corrected these errors and the correct publishers have been inserted into the references.