Comparison between CD44 Expressions on the Surface of Tumoral Cells in Breast Invasive Ductal Carcinoma

Background:
CD44 is a cell surface glycoprotein which its expression on the surface of neoplastic cells in breast invasive ductal carcinoma seems to be associated with increased aggressive potential of tumor. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of this antigen on neoplastic cells in this type of cancer according to the metastasis to axillary lymph nodes.

Methods:
This study was performed on 80 cases of breast invasive ductal carcinoma treated by mastectomy with documented status of axilliary lymph nodes metastasis. Slides prepared from formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tumoral tissue were stained for CD44 immunohistochemically, and the frequency of CD44 immunoreactivity in two groups (with and without axilliary lymph node metastasis) was assessed by chi-square test. Mean number of metastatic lymph nodes in two groups (with and without CD44) was assessed by t-student test. The significance level was set at p<0.001.

Findings:
No statistically significant difference was found neither between the frequency of CD44 immunoreactivity in two groups (with and without axilliary lymph node metastasis), nor between the number of metastatic lymph nodes in two groups (with and without the CD44 immunoreactivity).

Conclusion:
Our findings are compatible with results of some previous studies in this field which have not shown any significant relationship between CD44 expression and axillary lymph node metastasis. According to obtained results, CD44 is not an appropriate marker for predicting axillary lymph node metastasis in breast cancer.

Key words:
Breast invasive ductal carcinoma, CD44, immunohistochemistry, axillary node metastasis