Cancer Management and Research (Jan 2019)

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase expression and overall survival in patients diagnosed with breast cancer in Pakistan

  • Asghar K,
  • Loya A,
  • Ali Rana I,
  • Tahseen M,
  • Ishaq M,
  • Farooq A,
  • Abu Bakar M,
  • Masood I

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 11
pp. 475 – 481

Abstract

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Kashif Asghar,1 Asif Loya,2 Iftikhar Ali Rana,2 Muhammad Tahseen,2 Muhammad Ishaq,2 Asim Farooq,3 Muhammad Abu Bakar,4 Iqra Masood5 1Department of Basic Sciences, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH & RC), Lahore, Pakistan; 2Department of Pathology, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH & RC), Lahore, Pakistan; 3Department of Biomedical Engineering & Sciences, School of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan; 4Department of Cancer Registry and Clinical Data Management, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH & RC), Lahore, Pakistan; 5Department of Clinical Research, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH & RC), Lahore, Pakistan Background: Immune dysfunction in breast cancer patients is well established. Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is an immunosuppressive enzyme that is linked with progression of cancer. IDO is overexpressed in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cases. Materials and methods: We conducted the first study to analyze IDO expression and overall survival in breast cancer cases in Pakistan. Expression of IDO, estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human EGF receptor 2 (HER2) was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded breast cancer tissues of 100 (TNBC, n=49 and non-TNBC, n=51) patients were obtained from Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre. IDO expression was analyzed in association with clinicopathological features and overall survival. A total of 100 patients were classified based on the ordinal IDO score variables as low, medium, and high. In addition, overall mean age and SD of patients was 48.28±11.82. Results: Immunohistochemical analysis showed that high IDO was observed in the TNBC patients (65.3%) compared to that in the non-TNBC patients (33.3%). Multivariable analyses showed that TNBC was an independent risk factor for high IDO expression. Overall survival was also significantly associated with IDO score. Conclusion: Our study showed that IDO protein expression is higher in TNBC patients (P<0.01) and may suggest its role in disease pathogenesis. TNBC might be effectively treated with IDO inhibitors. Furthermore, high IDO expression is considerably associated with overall decreased patient survival. IDO might be utilized as a potential biomarker and immunotherapeutic target in breast cancer patients. Keywords: indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase, breast cancer, triple-negative breast cancer, Pakistan

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