In a nutshell
The authors aimed to determine the prognostic (treatment outlook) value of genetic expression (the expression of genes) on breast cancer survival.
Some background
The breast cancer over-expressed gene 1 (BCOX1) is a type of gene that may be involved in the development of breast cancer.
Finding effective ways of predicting treatment outlook in breast cancer is extremely important, as this can help determine what level of treatment aggressiveness is needed. The prognostic value of BCOX1 and its expression on the survival of patients with invasive breast cancer has not been well studied.
Methods & findings
The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of BCOX1 expression in invasive (cancer is spreading) breast cancer survival.
A total of 70 patients were evaluated for their individual BCOX1 expression rates, 59% of whom were positive for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2+) breast cancer.
Breast tumor tissues showed a significantly higher expression of BCOX1 than non-tumor tissues. 59% of the women had high expression of BCOX1. More patients with HER2 positive cancer also had high expression of BCOX1 compared to those with HER2 negative cancer.
Overall survival of those with BCOX1 expression was significantly shorter (66 months) than those without BCOX1 expression (70 months). Overall survival was reduced even further to 55 months in those who had BCOX1 expression plus triple negative breast cancer (negative for hormone receptors and HER2).
Having high levels of BCOX1 in the breast tumor was associated with a 52% increased risk of death.
The bottom line
The authors concluded that a high BCOX1 expression could be a prognostic factor for the survival of women with invasive breast cancer.
The fine print
The role of BCOX1 in the progression of breast cancer was not determined.
Published By :
PLOS ONE
Date :
Jan 28, 2014
