HER-2 Expression Correlates with Survivin in Primary Invasive Ductal Breast Cancers

Background: The expression of HER-2 and Survivin is correlated with poor prognosis of breast cancer, buta possible interaction of these two proteins remains to be established. Aim: The aim of this study is to determinethe possible relationship between HER-2 and Survivin in primary invasive ductal breast cancer.
Methods:Eighty-six patients diagnosed with primary invasive ductal breast cancer were enrolled in the study. Cancerousbreast tissue biopsies were analyzed for the expression levels of HER-2, survivin, ERK1/2, p-ERK1/2, AKT,and p-AKT proteins by Western blot. The levels of HER-2 and survivin mRNA were also assessed by real-timequantitative reverse transcription – polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Finally, the correlation of disease stateand protein or mRNA expression was analyzed using the bivariate Pearson’s correlation method (two-tailed).
Results: Western blot analysis showed a significant correlation in protein levels among HER-2, p-AKT, andsurvivin in the primary invasive ductal breast cancer tissues (all p<0.01). However, the levels of HER-2 proteinand Survivin mRNA were not correlated (p=0.154).
Conclusions: HER-2 expression significantly correlates withSurvivin at the protein level in primary invasive ductal breast cancer tissues, and the correlated changes mightact via p-AKT, rather than at the level of transcriptional regulation.