Elevated levels of eEF1A2 protein expression in triple negative breast cancer relate with poor prognosis

PLoS One. 2019 Jun 20;14(6):e0218030. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218030. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Eukaryotic elongation factor 1 alpha 2 (eEF1A2) is a translation factor selectively expressed by heart, skeletal muscle, nervous system and some specialized cells. Its ectopic expression relates with tumorigenesis in several types of human cancer. No data are available about the role of eEF1A2 in Triple Negative Breast Cancers (TNBC). This study investigated the relation between eEF1A2 protein levels and the prognosis of TNBC. A total of 84 TNBC diagnosed in the period 2002-2011 were included in the study. eEF1A2 protein level was measured in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues by immunohistochemistry in a semi-quantitative manner (sum of the percentage of positive cells x staining intensity) on a scale from 0 to 300. Cox regression assessed the association between eEF1A2 levels and disease-free survival (DFS) and breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS). Elevated values of eEF1A2 were associated with older age at diagnosis (p = 0.003), and androgen receptors positivity (p = 0.002). At univariate Cox analysis, eEF1A2 levels were not significantly associated with DFS and BCSS (p = 0.11 and p = 0.08, respectively) whereas adjusting for stage of disease, elevated levels of eEF1A2 protein resulted associated with poor prognosis (HR = 1.05, 95% CI: 1.01-1.11, p = 0.04 and HR = 1.07, 95% CI: 1.01-1.14, p = 0.03 for DFS and BCSS, respectively). This trend was confirmed analyzing negative versus positive samples by using categorized scores. Our data showed a negative prognostic role of eEF1A2 protein in TNBC, sustaining further investigations to confirm this result by wider and independent cohorts of patients.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / metabolism*
  • Disease-Free Survival
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Ki-67 Antigen / metabolism
  • Middle Aged
  • Paraffin Embedding
  • Peptide Elongation Factor 1 / metabolism*
  • Prognosis
  • Receptors, Androgen / metabolism
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / metabolism

Substances

  • AR protein, human
  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • EEF1A2 protein, human
  • Ki-67 Antigen
  • Peptide Elongation Factor 1
  • Receptors, Androgen
  • TP53 protein, human
  • Tumor Suppressor Protein p53

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Ricerca Sanitaria 2015 LILT (5xmille 2013), Beneficentia Foundation Stiftung grants BEN2016/16 and by LILT Trieste grant entitled to “Adriana Cartellà”. LILT had no input on the content, the study design, data selection, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.