immunohistochemical expression of melk in breast cancer manieli c*, saccani s*, lai ml*, pilloni l*,...
TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EXPRESSION OF MELK IN BREAST CANCER Manieli C*, Saccani S*, Lai ML*, Pilloni L*, Coni PP*, Senes G*, Faa G*, Van den Oord JJ°. *I Cattedra](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062804/5697bf991a28abf838c91dcd/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EXPRESSION OF MELK IN
BREAST CANCER
Manieli C*, Saccani S*, Lai ML*, Pilloni L*, Coni PP*, Senes G*, Faa G*, Van den Oord JJ°.*I Cattedra Anatomia Patologica, University of Cagliari, Italy.°University Hospitals, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.
![Page 2: IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EXPRESSION OF MELK IN BREAST CANCER Manieli C*, Saccani S*, Lai ML*, Pilloni L*, Coni PP*, Senes G*, Faa G*, Van den Oord JJ°. *I Cattedra](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062804/5697bf991a28abf838c91dcd/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Background (1)
• MELK (Maternal Embryonic Leucine Zipper Kinase) is a member of the snf1/AMPK family of serine-threonine kinases;
• Its specific targets in normal cells have not been identified yet, and its role is therefore still elusive.
• However, several studies reported an increased expression of MELK in various tumours compared to normal tissues.
![Page 3: IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EXPRESSION OF MELK IN BREAST CANCER Manieli C*, Saccani S*, Lai ML*, Pilloni L*, Coni PP*, Senes G*, Faa G*, Van den Oord JJ°. *I Cattedra](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062804/5697bf991a28abf838c91dcd/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Background (2)In breast cancer cell lines and in breast tumours an
elevated expression of MELK was found by semi-quantitative RT-PCR and by Western Blot analysis; MELK, by interaction with and phosphorylation of Bcl-G, a pro-apoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family, has an anti-apoptotic effect on tumour cells growth in vitro. Meng-Lay Lin et al, Breast Cancer Research 2007,9:R17.
![Page 4: IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EXPRESSION OF MELK IN BREAST CANCER Manieli C*, Saccani S*, Lai ML*, Pilloni L*, Coni PP*, Senes G*, Faa G*, Van den Oord JJ°. *I Cattedra](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062804/5697bf991a28abf838c91dcd/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
The aim of the present study was to assess the expression of MELK by immunohistochemistry, comparing normal mammary tissue and breast tumours.
![Page 5: IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EXPRESSION OF MELK IN BREAST CANCER Manieli C*, Saccani S*, Lai ML*, Pilloni L*, Coni PP*, Senes G*, Faa G*, Van den Oord JJ°. *I Cattedra](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062804/5697bf991a28abf838c91dcd/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Design
Immunohistochemical studies were performed on frozen sections from 17 consecutive cases of breast cancer and 4 cases of normal mammary gland, using a mouse monoclonal antibody against Melk. Immunostaining was also performed for Estrogen (ER) and Progesteron (PR) Receptors and Cerb-B2.
![Page 6: IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EXPRESSION OF MELK IN BREAST CANCER Manieli C*, Saccani S*, Lai ML*, Pilloni L*, Coni PP*, Senes G*, Faa G*, Van den Oord JJ°. *I Cattedra](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062804/5697bf991a28abf838c91dcd/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Results (1)
• MELK was not expressed in normal mammary gland • 7 out of 17 breast tumours examined showed
immunoreactivity for MELK.
Normal mammary gland
Invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC).
![Page 7: IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EXPRESSION OF MELK IN BREAST CANCER Manieli C*, Saccani S*, Lai ML*, Pilloni L*, Coni PP*, Senes G*, Faa G*, Van den Oord JJ°. *I Cattedra](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062804/5697bf991a28abf838c91dcd/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
• A cytoplasmatic staining was present in all 7 cases; 5 cases showed both cytoplasmatic and nuclear stain.
• All Melk positive tumours were ER and PR positive and Cerb-B2 negative.
Results (2)
Invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC).
![Page 8: IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EXPRESSION OF MELK IN BREAST CANCER Manieli C*, Saccani S*, Lai ML*, Pilloni L*, Coni PP*, Senes G*, Faa G*, Van den Oord JJ°. *I Cattedra](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062804/5697bf991a28abf838c91dcd/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Conclusions
Our data show that MELK is expressed by cancer cells in a subgroup of breast tumours.
In addition, MELK expression was associated with estrogen and progesteron receptor immunoreactivity.
The issue of whether MELK immunostaining may have a prognostic significance in breast cancer needs further studies.