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Elevated Interleukin-13 Receptor Alpha 1 Expression in Tumor Cells Is Associated with Poor Prognosis in Patients with Invasive Breast Cancer

  • Translational Research and Biomarkers
  • Published:
Annals of Surgical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Interleukin (IL)-13 is an immunoregulatory, anti-inflammatory cytokine that is produced by numerous immune cells, and plasma membrane receptor for IL-13 (IL-13R) is known to be expressed in various human malignancies and in immune cells.

Methods

The authors evaluated the expression of IL-13R alpha 1 (IL-13Rα1, an IL-13R subtype) by immunohistochemistry in tissue microarrays of 1213 invasive breast cancer (IBC) samples to determine the prognostic value of IL-13Rα1 expression.

Results

High IL-13Rα1 expression was observed in 619 (51%) cases and was found to be associated with an older (≥50 years) age (p = 0.022), lymph node metastasis (p = 0.015), ductal and micropapillary histologic subtypes (p < 0.001), lymphovascular invasion (p = 0.012), HER2 positivity (p < 0.001), and a high (>20%) Ki-67 index (p = 0.039). No significant correlation was found between IL-13Rα1 expression and clinicopathological variables, including tumor size, histological grade, hormone receptor expressions, and tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte levels. Patients with high IL-13Rα1 expression showed poorer overall survival (p = 0.044) and disease-free survival (DFS, p = 0.001) than those with low/negative expression. Subgroup analysis revealed an association between IL-13Rα1 expression and survival for HER2-negative, but not for HER2-positive tumors. Multivariate analysis showed high IL-13Rα1 expression was an independent negative prognostic factor of DFS (p = 0.019).

Conclusions

The results of this study suggest the IL-13 and IL-13Rα1 interaction promotes cancer cell growth and metastasis, and IL-13Rα1 expression is a potential prognostic marker in IBC.

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Acknowledgment

This study was supported by the Medical Research Center Program (2015R1A5A2009124) through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (Y.K.B. and J.-R.K.) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (2014R1A5A2009242) (B.L.).

Disclosure

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Min Hui Park and Hee Jung Kwon have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Yeungnam University College of Medicine, Daegu, South Korea

    Min Hui Park BS, Hee Jung Kwon MD & Young Kyung Bae MD, PhD

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Smart-Aging Convergence Research Center, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Daegu, South Korea

    Jae-Ryong Kim MD, PhD

  3. Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, South Korea

    Byungheon Lee MD, PhD

  4. Department of Surgery, Yeungnam University College of Medicine, Daegu, South Korea

    Soo Jung Lee MD, PhD

Authors
  1. Min Hui Park BS
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  2. Hee Jung Kwon MD
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  3. Jae-Ryong Kim MD, PhD
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  4. Byungheon Lee MD, PhD
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  6. Young Kyung Bae MD, PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Young Kyung Bae MD, PhD.

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Park, M.H., Kwon, H.J., Kim, JR. et al. Elevated Interleukin-13 Receptor Alpha 1 Expression in Tumor Cells Is Associated with Poor Prognosis in Patients with Invasive Breast Cancer. Ann Surg Oncol 24, 3780–3787 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-017-5907-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-017-5907-2

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