The value of measurement of pregnancy-specific proteins in twin pregnancies

Low expression of TFPI-2 associated with poor survival outcome in patients with breast cancer

Background

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the prognostic value of TFPI-2 expression in breast cancer patients through examining the correlation between TFPI-2 expression and breast cancer clinicopathologic features.

Methods

Immunohistochemical staining combined with digital image analysis was used to quantify the expression of TFPI-2 protein in breast tumor tissues. For evaluation of the prognostic value of TFPI-2 expression to each clinicopathologic factor, Kaplan-Meier method and COX’s Proportional Hazard Model were employed.

Results

TFPI-2 expression was significantly correlated with tumor size, lymph node metastasis, histologic grade, clinical stage, and vessel invasion. More importantly, TFPI-2 expression was also associated with disease-free survival (DFS) of breast cancer patients. We found that patients with high TFPI-2 expression had longer DFS compared with those with low or negative expression of TFPI-2 (P <0.05, log-rank test). Cox’s regression analysis indicated that TFPI-2 expression, histologic grade, and vessel invasion might be significant prognostic factors for DFS, while TFPI-2 expression and histologic grade were the most significant independent predictors for tumor recurrence. Compared with the group with low/high TFPI-2 expression, the TFPI-2 negative group was more likely to have tumor relapse. The hazard ratio of DFS is 0.316 (P <0.01).

Conclusions

Low or negative expression of TFPI-2 is associated with breast cancer progression, recurrence and poor survival outcome after breast cancer surgery. TFPI-2 expression in breast tumors is a potential prognostic tool for breast cancer patients.

Placental protein 5 (PP5) in complicated pregnancies

Maternal serum PP5 concentrations were assayed in pregnancies complicated by intrauterine growth retardation, pre-eclampsia, diabetes mellitus, placental abruption and twins. Elevated PP5 levels were noted in twin pregnancies and to a lesser extent in diabetes and pre-eclampsia. Measurement of PP5 was of no value in the detection of fetal growth retardation. The great majority of PP5 levels above the normal range were associated with a placental abnormality.