Clinical significance of SPRR1A expression in progesterone receptor-positive breast cancer

Abstract

Small proline-rich repeat protein 1A (SPRR1A) is a marker for terminal squamous cell differentiation. Previous studies showed that SPRR1A expression increases in squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, but decreases in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. This study focuses on the expression of SPRR1A protein in breast cancers (BCs) in China. A total of 111 patients with histologically confirmed BC, who underwent radical surgery between January 2006 and September 2007 in China Medical University, were enrolled. The relationship between SPRR1A expression and clinicopathological factors as well as BC prognoses was also determined. Overall, SPRR1A expression was detected in more than half of the BC specimens by immunohistochemistry (56/111, 53.8%), but there was no significant difference between age groups (≥50 vs. <50 years) in terms of SPRR1A expression (P = 0.915), as well as no differences between SPRR1A expression and the clinical stage (0-I vs. II-III) or nodal status (P = 0.234 and 0.632, respectively). Moreover, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 overexpression was not correlated with SPRR1A expression, whereas Ki67 was associated with SPRR1A expression (P = 0.155 and 0.028, respectively). Interestingly, SPRR1A expression was significantly associated with progesterone receptor-positive (P = 0.010) rather than estrogen receptor-positive (0.778) BCs. The 5-year survival rate in patients did not differ with the presence or absence of SPRR1A expression (P = 0.753), whereas the combination of SPRR1A expression, progesterone receptor status, and menopausal status allowed identification of a subgroup of BC patients with a good long-term prognosis. Thus, the SPRR1A status might play an important role in the prognosis of postmenopausal breast carcinoma patients, especially that of progesterone receptor-positive subgroups.

The combined use of EFS, GPX2, and SPRR1A expression could distinguish favorable from poor clinical outcome among epithelial‐like head and neck carcinoma subtypes

“…SPRR1A expression is also downregulated in metastatic melanoma . SPRR1A has been described as a prognostic marker in progesterone receptor‐positive breast cancer . In consonance with these findings, SPRR1A expression was identified as a favorable prognostic marker in our HNSCC study.…”

“…65 SPRR1A has been described as a prognostic marker in progesterone receptor-positive breast cancer. 66 In consonance with these findings, SPRR1A expression was identified as a favorable prognostic marker in our HNSCC study. Low expression of SPRR1A combined with the overexpression of EFS and GPX2 defined the node 5 subgroup, which was associated with poor outcome.…”

High SPRR1A expression is associated with poor survival in patients with colon cancer

“…few studies have focused on the association between SPRR1A expression and the prognosis of colon cancer (9,11,12). Through use of immunohistochemical analysis, the present study demonstrated that SPRR1A expression is increased in colon cancer tissues compared with adjacent noncancerous tissues, which was significantly associated with lymph node involvement.…”

“…Previously, it has been described as a specific marker of differentiation of keratinocytes and squamous epithelial cells (6,8). Accumulating evidence has revealed the prognostic importance of the high expression of SPRR1A in various types of cancer, including diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (9), head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (10), and breast cancer (11). In addition, high SPRR1A expression was also reported in a murine preneoplastic intestine and in the normal intestinal mucosa of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) (12).…”

“…Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine whether high expression of SPRR1A may serve as a promising biomarker for colon cancer prognosis assessment. To the best of our knowledge, few studies have focused on this issue (9,11,12).…”