Abstract
Nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT) possesses various functions in human cells, and altered NAMPT expression is associated with human carcinogenesis. The present study detected the expression of NAMPT in normal and cancerous breast tissues from 83 patients using immunohistochemistry, and analyzed its association with the clinicopathological and survival data of the patients. NAMPT was significantly overexpressed in the breast invasive ductal carcinoma tissues compared with adjacent normal mammary gland tissues. Upregulated NAMPT expression was associated with a larger tumor size, lymph node metastasis, advanced clinical tumor-node-metastasis stages, and estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor expression. Furthermore, NAMPT expression was associated with poor overall and disease-free survival in patients with breast cancer. In conclusion, NAMPT increased protein expression in tumor cells may contribute to the development and progression of breast invasive ductal carcinoma. Thus, detection of NAMPT expression might be useful as a biomarker for the early detection and prognosis prediction of breast cancer.