Expression of CD117 in breast invasive carcinomas and its clinicopathological significance

PENG Guang-yin; LI Xiu-qing; GAO Li-li; ZHANG Yi-fen; WANG Yao-hui

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1007-8096.2018.05.007

Abstract：To investigate the expression of CD117 in breast invasive carcinomas and its correlation with clinicopathological characteristics.Methods One hundred and fourteen cases of breast invasive carcinomas were collected for analysis.The expression of CD117 protein was detected by immunohistochemistry,and the correlation between CD117 protein expression and clinicopathological characteristics (e.g.Nottingham grade,hormone receptors status and Ki-67 index,etc.)were analyzed.Results The positive rate of CD117 in 114 invasive breast carcinomas was 29.8％ (34 cases),including 11.4％ (13 cases) weakly positive and 18.4％ (21 cases) strongly positive.Of 31 triple negative breast carcinomas (TNBC),CD117 was positive in 67.7％ (21 cases),with 61.3％ (19 cases) strongly positive.The correlation between CD117 expression and clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed.The results showed that the positive rates of ER (75％,38.5％,4.8％),Ki-67 index (24.8％ ± 19.7％,43.5％ ±26.7％,65.5％ ±21.4％) in CD117 negative,weakly positive and strongly positive groups were significantly different (P ＜ 0.05).Patients' age (54.2 ± 10.7 years,47.5 ± 9.9 years),Nottingham grade 3 proportion (22.5％,66.7％),the positive rate of PR (68.6％,4.8％),the positive rate of Her-2 (23％,4.8％),the ratio of TNBC (12％,90.5％) were significantly different between CD117 negative and strongly positive groups (P ＜ 0.05).But correlations between histological subtype,tumor laterality,T stage,N stage and CD117 expression were not significantly different (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions Strong expression of CD117 protein can be detected in some of invasive breast carcinomas.It tends to be found in younger patients,and in carcinomas of higher Ki-67 index,higher histological grade,lower hormone receptors and Her-2 immunopositivity.Most TNBCs show strongly positive for CD117,which may suggest that CD117 may be a new target for TNBC.