Open Access

ARTICLE

Chemokine and chemokine receptors: a comparative study between metastatic and nonmetastatic lymph nodes in breast cancer patients

Mahboobeh Razmkhah¹, Mansoureh Jaberipour¹, Akbar Safaei², Abdol-Rasoul Talei³, Nasrollah Erfani¹, Abbass Ghaderi^1,4

1 Shiraz Institute for Cancer Research, School of medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
2 Department of Pathology, School of medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
3 Department of Surgery, School of medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
4 Department of Immunology, School of medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

* Corresponding Author: M. Razmkhah,

European Cytokine Network 2012, 23(3), 72-77. https://doi.org/10.1684/ecn.2012.0310

Accepted 02 July 2012;

Abstract

Background: Lymph nodes (LNs) are among the first sites of tumor metastasis. The expression of chemokines and chemokine receptors in LNs are involved in cancer prognosis and are considered to be good predictors of tumor progression. The main aim of this study was to assess the expression of important, tumorpromoting chemokines and chemokine receptors in LNs of breast cancer patients. Methods: LNs were isolated from eighteen women diagnosed with breast cancer. Data were compared between positive and negative LNs. Expression of chemokines and chemokine receptors were determined by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and flow cytometry. Results: Results of qRT-PCR showed that all chemokines, in particular MCP-1, IL-8, SDF-1 and CXCL13, and chemokine receptors CXCR3, CXCR4 and CCR5 showed greater mRNA expression in LN⁺ compared to LN^- samples. However, these differences were not statistically significant. IL-8 and CXCR5 gene transcripts had significantly higher expression in LN⁺ patients with stage III compared to those with stage II tumors (P value = 0.04). Results of flow cytometry analysis showed a higher, significant presence of CD69⁺, CCR5⁺ and CD3⁺CCR5⁺ cells in LN of LN⁺ compared to LN^- breast cancer patients (P value<0.05). Expression of MCP-1 was higher in LN⁺ patients, which was near significance (P value = 0.07). Conclusion: Our findings provide additional information on the expression of essential chemokines and chemokine receptors in LN and on their relationships to important prognostic factors in breast cancer. These findings have important implications for immunotherapeutic interventions in the treatment of breast cancer.

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