The expression and clinical significance of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3, tumor necrosis factor α induced protein 8-like 2, and runt-related transcription factor 1 in breast cancer patients

Abstract

Background: This study explored the expression and clinical significance of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), tumor necrosis factor α induced protein 8-like 2 (TIPE2), and runt-related transcription factor 1 (RUNX1) in breast cancer tissue.Methods: From October 2014 to October 2017, 68 breast cancer patients (68 breast cancer tissue specimens) who underwent a radical mastectomy in our hospital were set as the observation group and the corresponding normal tissue 3 cm away from the cancer tissue was selected as the control group. The expression levels of STAT3, TIPE2, and RUNX1 in the two groups were compared via immunohistochemical staining. Multiple logistic regression was then used to analyze the related risk factors affecting the 2-year prognosis of breast cancer patients. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was then plotted and the area under the ROC curve was calculated. The predictive values of STAT3, TIPE2, and RUNX1, and the predictive value of the three transcription factors combined on the 2-year prognostic survival of breast cancer patients were determined.Results: (I) In the observation group, the positive expression of STAT3 and the negative expression of TIPE2 and RUNX1 were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). (II) Of the 68 patients, 51 survived within 2 years and 17 patients died. Positive STAT3 expression, negative TIPE2 expression, negative RUNX1 expression, poor histological differentiation, TNM stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ, and distant metastasis were all identified as factors that can affect the 2-year prognosis of breast cancer patients (P<0.05). (III) The ROC curve analysis examining the 2-year prognostic survival of breast cancer patients showed that the area under the curve achieved the largest value when the predictive values of STAT3, TIPE2, RUNX1 were combined. Conclusions:The levels of STAT3, TIPE2, and RUNX1 expression in breast cancer tissues were significantly different from that in adjacent normal tissues. This suggested that the combined detection of STAT3, TIPE2, and RUNX1 may improve the rate of early breast cancer diagnosis. Furthermore, STAT3, TIPE2, and RUNX1 may be useful in evaluating the prognosis of the patients with breast cancer.