Serum amyloid A expression in the breast cancer tissue is associated with poor prognosis

Abstract

BackgroundSerum amyloid A (SAA), an acute-phase protein, is expressed primarily in the liver, and recently found also expressed in cancer tissues. However, its expression and prognostic value in breast cancer have not been described.ResultsSAA protein was found expressed in tumor cells in 44.2% cases and in TAM in 62.5% cases. FISH showed more frequent SAA mRNA expression in TAM than in tumor cells (76% versus 12%, p < 0.001), and a significant association between the frequencies of SAA mRNA expression in TAM and tumor cells (rs = 0.603, p < 0.001). The immunoreactivities of SAA protein in TAM and tumor cells were both associated with lymphovascular invasion and lymph node metastasis. Moreover, SAA-positivity in TAMs was associated with larger tumor-size, higher histological-grade, negative estrogen-receptor and progesterone-receptor statuses, and HER-2 overexpression. It was also linked to worse recurrence-free survival in a multivariable regression model.MethodsImmunohistochemistry was applied on the tumor tissues from 208 breast cancer patients to evaluate the local SAA-protein expression with additional CD68 stain to identify the tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) on the serial tissue sections. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) was conducted on serial tissue sections from 25 of the 208 tumors to examine the expression and location of SAA mRNA.ConclusionsOur results suggested that the TAMs may be a pivotal and main source of SAA production in tumor microenvironment of breast cancer. SAA immunoreactivity in TAM is associated with worse recurrence-free survival, and is therefore a biomarker candidate for postoperative surveillance and perhaps a therapeutic target for breast cancer.

Cancer‐associated adipocytes promote pancreatic cancer progression through SAA1 expression

“…37 Interestingly, Yang and associates recently reported that SAA1 was expressed in breast cancer cells and in tumor-associated macrophages, and that its expression is associated with worse relapse-free survival. 30 More recently, Djurec and colleagues reported that SAA1 mRNA was expressed in human CAF and in pancreatic cancer cells as determined by real-time PCR. 38 In the present study, we found that SAA1 protein was expressed in pancreatic cancer cells of PDAC tissues and that SAA1 was also weakly expressed in CAF surrounding the cancer cells ( Figure S8).…”

Study on the correlation of serum amyloid A level with overall survival and radiation pneumonitis in non‐small cell lung cancer patients receiving thoracic radiotherapy

“…SAA has been shown to be highly expressed in a number of malignancies . Generally, the level of SAA in the peripheral blood of patients with cancer is significantly higher than that of healthy individuals .…”

“…13 SAA has been shown to be highly expressed in a number of malignancies. [14][15][16][17] Generally, the level of SAA in the peripheral blood of patients with cancer is significantly higher than that of healthy individuals. 18,19 It has also been shown that individuals with higher SAA levels have an 8.7-fold higher morbidity as a result of lung cancer than those with lower expression of SAA.…”

Serum amyloid A1 in combination with integrin αVβ3 increases glioblastoma cells mobility and progression

“…Targeting and reprogramming TAMs have thus become a novel strategy for tumor therapy (Mantovani et al, 2017;Noy and Pollard, 2014;Yang and Zhang, 2017;Zheng et al, 2017). However, research revealed the unspecific expression of SAA1 in both tumors and TAMs, which can lead to a poor prognosis in breast cancer cases (Yang et al, 2016).…”