The clinical significance of secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine expression in breast cancer tissue and its association with prognosis.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) expression in breast cancer tissue and its association with patients' clinical pathology characteristics and prognosis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eight-eight cases with confirmed diagnosis of breast cancer who received operation from January 2010 to February 2016 were included in this study. The SPARC expression in cancer tissue was examined by immunohistochemical method. The SPARC expression status, clinical pathology characteristics, and prognosis of included patients were recorded and evaluated.

RESULTS: SPARC protein was mainly expressed in cytoplasm and stroma of tumor tissue with dark brown and purple stain. The SPARC protein-positive expression rate was 69.3% (61/88) in cancer tissue. The positive expression of SPARC in breast tissues was not significantly correlated with age, menstruation status, tumor, node, and metastasis stage, tumor size, progesterone level, and HER-2 status (P > 0.05). However, SPARC protein-positive expression was correlated with tumor differentiation (P < 0.05), estrogen receptor expression (P < 0.05), and lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05). The 3-year disease-free survival (DFS) was 60.8% and 71.2% for SPARC-positive and -negative groups with no statistical difference (P > 0.05); there was no statistical difference of disease progression risk between the SPARC-positive and -negative groups (hazard ratio = 1.78, 95% confidence interval: 0.80-3.57, P > 0.05). However, SPARC-positive and -negative patients have shown a trend of DFS difference.

CONCLUSION: SPARC is closely related to the development of breast cancer and can be used as a tumor marker for breast cancer recurrence.