Bim may be a poor prognostic biomarker in breast cancer patients especially in those with luminal A tumors

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Maimaiti, Yusufu^{a; 1} | Dong, Lingling^{b; 1} | Aili, Aikebaier^a | Maimaitiaili, Maimaitiaili^a | Huang, Tao^b | Abudureyimu, Kelimu^{a; *}

Affiliations: [a] Department of General Surgery, People’s Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi, Xinjiang, China | [b] Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Kelimu Abudureyimu, Department of General Surgery (Research Institute of Minimally Invasive), People’s Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi, Xinjiang, China. Tel.: +86 13809956075; E-mail: [email protected].

Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Bcl-2 interacting mediator of cell death (Bim) appears to have contradictory roles in cancer. It is uncertain whether Bim show prognostic significance in patients with breast cancer. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the correlation between Bim expression and clinicopathological characteristics of breast cancer and to evaluate Bim’s effect on overall survival (OS). METHODS: We used immunohistochemistry (IHC) technique to detect the expression of Bim via tissue microarray in 275 breast cancer samples, Kaplan-Meier analysis to perform survival analysis, and Cox proportional hazards regression model to explore the risk factors of breast cancer. RESULTS: The results revealed that Bim expression was significantly correlated with age, estrogen receptor (ER) and/or progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2) and Ki67 expression (P< 0.05). Bim expression was significantly different in the four molecular subtypes (P= 0.000). Survival analysis showed that Bim positive expression contributed to a shorter OS (P= 0.034), especially in patients with luminal A tumors (P= 0.039). Univariate and multivariate regression analysis showed that Bim was an independent prognostic factor for breast cancer (P< 0.05). CONCLUSION: Bim may serve as an effective predictive factor for lower OS in breast cancer patients, especially in those with luminal A tumors.

Keywords: Bim, breast cancer, biomarker, prognosis, luminal A

DOI: 10.3233/CBM-160377

Journal: Cancer Biomarkers, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 411-418, 2017