Geburtshilfe Frauenheilkd 2016; 76 - P143
DOI: 10.1055/s-0036-1592734

Prognostic significance of the chemokine CXCL13 in node-negative breast cancer

K Almstedt 1, L van de Sandt 2, I Sicking 1, M Battista 1, AS Heimes 1, A Lebrecht 1, K Edlund 2, J Rahnenführer 2, JG Hengstler 3, A Hasenburg 1, M Schmidt 1
  • 1Universitätsfrauenklinik, Mainz, Deutschland
  • 2Fakultät Statistik Technische Universität, Dortmund, Deutschland
  • 3Leibniz-Institut für Arbeitsforschung an der TU, Dortmund, Deutschland

Background/Aim: The chemokine CXCL13 is chemotactic for B cells. We examined the prognostic significance of CXCL13 mRNA expression in node-negative breast cancer.

Methods: Microarray based gene-expression data for CXCL13 (205242_at) were analysed in four previously published cohorts (Mainz, Rotterdam, Transbig, Yu) of node-negative breast cancer patients not treated with adjuvant therapy (n = 824). A meta-analysis of previously published cohorts was performed using a random effects model. Prognostic significance of CXCL13 on metastasis-free survival (MFS) was examined in the whole cohort and in different molecular subtypes (ER+/HER2-, ER-/HER2-, HER2+). Independent prognostic relevance was analysed using multivariate Cox regression.

Results: Higher RNA expression of CXCL13 was related to better MFS in a meta-analysis of the whole cohort (HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.83 – 0.94, P < 0.0001). Prognostic significance was most pronounced in the HER2+ positive molecular subtype (HR 0.72, 95% CI 0.59 – 0.87, P = 0.0009) as compared to ER+/HER2- (HR 0.86, 95% CI 0.76 – 0.98, P = 0.0024) and ER-/HER2- (HR 0.85, 95% CI 0.75 – 0.98), P = 0.02) carcinomas of the breast. CXCL13 showed independent prognostic significance (HR 0.81, 95% CI 0.7336 0.8982, P = 0.0001) in multivariate analysis. In addition to CXCL13, only histological grade of differentiation (HR 2.20, 95% CI 1.41 – 3.42, P = 0.0005) and tumor size (HR 1.72, 95% CI 1.13 – 2.61, P = 0.012), but neither age nor HER2 status nor hormone receptor status retained an independent prognostic association with MFS.

Conclusions: The chemokine CXCL13 has independent prognostic significance in node-negative breast cancer. Higher expression of CXCL13 is associated with improved outcome.