中文摘要：

背景与目的：作为黏附分子Catenin家族中的一员,Delta-catenin蛋白在众多肿瘤中的表达意义及作用机制尚未明确。该研究探讨了Delta-catenin在乳腺癌中的表达情况及其与患者预后的关系。方法：应用免疫组化检测92例乳腺癌组织芯片中Delta-catenin的表达及其与患者临床病理因素之间的关系。另选32例冻存的乳腺癌及癌旁正常乳腺组织用于Delta-catenin的mRNA和蛋白检测。结果：与正常乳腺组织相比,Delta-catenin的mRNA和蛋白在乳腺癌组织中表达显著增高,且Delta-catenin的表达与乳腺癌的组织学分级及淋巴结转移密切相关（P=0.016,P=0.022）。此外,Kaplan-Meier生存曲线揭示Delta-catenin高表达的患者生存时间显著短于低表达的患者（P=0.015）,同时Cox多变量分析显示Delta-catenin高表达也是判断患者预后的独立危险因素（P=0.017）。结论：作为一个癌蛋白,Delta-catenin在乳腺癌组织中的高表达与患者的不良预后显著相关。

英文摘要：

Background and purpose： As a member of Catenin family, little is known about expressive signifi cance and mechanism of Delta-catenin in numerous tumors. In present study, we investigated the expression of Delta-catenin in breast cancer tissues and its correlation with the prognosis of patients. Methods： We examined the expression of Delta-catenin and its correlation with clinicopathological factors of patients by immunohistochemistry in 92 cases of breast cancer tissues with tissue micro-array. The mRNA and protein expression of Delta-catenin were also detected in another 32 cases of frozen paired breast cancer tissues and normal breast tissues. Results： Compared with normal breast tissues, the mRNA and protein expression of Delta-catenin were increased in breast cancer tissues, and expression of Delta-catenin was closely associated with histological grade and lymph node metastasis（P=0.016 and 0.022, respectively）. Moreover, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that patients with high Delta-catenin expression had shorter survival than patients with low expression（P=0.015）, and multivariate Cox analysis revealed that high Delta-catenin expression was also an independent prognostic factor（P=0.017）. Conclusion： Our results suggest that Delta-catenin acts as an oncoprotein when overexpressed in breast cancer, and its expression is associated with poor prognosis of patients.