International Journal of General Medicine (Aug 2023)
KIF20A is a Prognostic Marker for Female Patients with Estrogen Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer and Receiving Tamoxifen as Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy
Abstract
Xuchen Huang,1,2 Sainan Li,1,2 Wei Gao,1,2 Jiajie Shi,1,2 Meng Cheng,1,2 Yunzhe Mi,1,2 Yueping Liu,3 Meixiang Sang,4 Ziyi Li,4 Cuizhi Geng1,2 1Department of Breast Center, The Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, People’s Republic of China; 2Key Laboratory in Hebei Province for Molecular Medicine of Breast Cancer, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Pathology, The Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, People’s Republic of China; 4Research Center and Tumor Research Institute, The Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Cuizhi Geng, Department of Breast Center, The Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050000, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86-311-66696313, Email [email protected]: Our aim was to verify whether KIF20A has the potential to serve as a prognostic marker for female patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer (BC) and treated with tamoxifen (TAM).Patients and Methods: Online tools were used to investigate the potential correlation between KIF20A gene expression and survival of patients with ER-positive BC and TAM treatment. Furthermore, immunohistochemistry (IHC) was conducted to assess the expression levels of KIF20A in patients included from our center. The prognostic value of KIF20A for disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) was further evaluated using Cox regression analysis.Results: According to the results obtained from online tools, it was found that patients with low KIF20A expression exhibited significantly better survival outcomes in terms of relapse-free survival (RFS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), and OS compared to those with high KIF20A expression (P < 0.001, P < 0.001, and P = 0.008, respectively). Additionally, significantly lower gene expression of KIF20A was found in patients who responded to TAM than in those who did not respond to TAM (P < 0.001). We further included 203 patients with adjuvant TAM therapy, and IHC for KIF20A was performed on sections from paraffin-embedded blocks. Patients with low KIF20A expression had significantly better DFS and OS (P = 0.001 and 0.002, respectively, log rank test), and the expression of KIF20A was identified as an independent factor for predicting both DFS and OS (P = 0.001 and 0.008, respectively).Conclusion: KIF20A expression is an independent prognostic factor for survival in patients with ER-positive BC who received adjuvant TAM therapy. In clinical practice, IHC evaluation of KIF20A expression in surgical samples before administering tamoxifen may assist in predicting the treatment outcomes of these patients.Keywords: KIF20A, breast carcinoma, biomarker, tamoxifen, survival, prognosis
