Abstract
BACKGROUND: Interaction between the stromal and tumor cells is of crucial importance in breast cancer progression and response to therapy. A literature search has shown that stromal CD10 expression signifies the biological aggressiveness of various epithelial malignancies. Stromal markers are now becoming apparent as novel markers in evaluating the prognosis of invasive breast cancer and have not been studied substantially to date. OBJECTIVES: To study the immunohistochemical expression of CD10 in stromal cells of breast carcinoma and to correlate the expression of CD10 with various clinicopathological prognostic factors such as the size of the tumor, histological grade, lymph node status, and estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2/neu protooncogene (HER2-neu) status. METHODOLOGY: In the present study, a hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 50 mastectomy specimens diagnosed with invasive breast carcinoma. The specimens of patients who had received neoadjuvant therapy or chemotherapy were excluded. Size of the tumor, grade of tumor on histopathology, lymph node involvement, and IHC status of ER, PR, and HER2-neu were noted. IHC staining for the CD10 marker was performed, and expression of stromal CD10 was correlated with these clinical-pathological prognostic factors. RESULTS: CD10 expression in stromal cells of breast carcinoma was seen in 40 (80%) cases, and it showed a statistically significant association with histological grade (χ(2) = 17.262; p-value < 0.0001), ER negativity (χ(2) = 3.668; p-value < 0.045), and PR negativity (χ(2) = 3.926; p-value < 0.048). CONCLUSION: A strong association of stromal CD10 expression with a well-established negative prognostic marker such as a higher tumor grade, ER-negative status, and PR-negative status was noted and thus, stromal CD10 expression can be used as an independent prognostic marker in breast carcinoma.