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Annals of Oncology 5:329-336, 1994
© 1994 European Society for Medical Oncology

research-article

Prognostic value of Cathepsin D expression in breast cancer: Immunohistochemical assessment and correlation with radiometric assay

P. Eng Tan1, C. C. Benz2, C. Dollbaum3, D. H. Moore, II4, S. M. Edgerton1, D. T. Zava3 and A. D. Thor1,5,

1Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School Boston, MA
2Department of Medicine, Cancer Research Institute, University of California San Francisco San Francisco, CA
3Department of Aeron Biotechnology Inc. San Leandro, CA
4Department of Biomedical Sciences Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Livermore, CA
5Department of Pathology, University of Vermont VT, USA

Correspondence to: Ann D. Thor, M.D., Department of Pathology, Medical Alumni Bldg., University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA

BACKGROUND:: The prognostic significance of Cathepsin D and optimal methodologies to measure Cathepsin D in breast cancers are controversial.

PATIENTS AND METHODS:: Quantitative (immunoradiometric) and semiquantitative (immunohistochemical) assays for Cathepsin D expression were compared using 25 breast carcinomas. Immunohistochemical Cathepsin D results were derived using 3 different anti-Cathepsin D antibodies and significant associations between immunohistochemical and radiometric Cathepsin D data were observed for each reagent. Immunohistochemical analysis of Cathepsin D expression was performed on nearly 500 fixed-embedded archival breast cancers with long-term patient follow-up using 2 anti-Cathepsin D antibodies (CDR2-11/23, IC11).

RESULTS:: The immunohistochemical reagents recognized generally overlapping subsets of Cathepsin D positive tumors (correlation co-efficient 0.54; p – 0.00016). Correlations between Cathepsin D data and clinical, histologic or biologic features differed for each antibody. For the node-negative patient subset, Cathepsin D immunopositivity correlated with erbB-2 and stress-response protein 27 overexpression but not survival. Cathepsin D positivity was associated with subsequent distant metastasis and estrogen receptor positivity in node positive patients. Univariate analysis of all patients suggested that Cathepsin D immunopositivity may be predictive of a reduced metastasis-free but not overall survival. Multivariate analysis, however, failed to confirm an independent prognostic value for Cathepsin D in breast cancer patients.

CONCLUSIONS:: These data do not confirm an independent prognostic significance for Cathepsin D using immunohistochemical methods on breast cancers.

breast cancer, Cathepsin D, immunoassay, immunohistochemistry, prognostic marker


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