Relationship between expression of p73¦Á and p53 and chemosensitivity in breast cancer

    ZHOU Xin , SUN Zhiª²Jun

    Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital , Chongqing University of Medical Sciences, Chongqing 400016, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To investigate the relationship between the expression of p73¦Á and p53 in breast cancer cells and chemosensitivity. METHODS: Twelve surgical samples of pathologically diagnosed breast cancer were used. The cancer cells were isolated and cultured in the incubator at 37¡æ, 50 mL/L CO2 in vitro. The inhibitory rates of cancer cells by 4 kinds of anticancer drugs (EPI, MMC, 5ª²FU and DDP) were assayed by MTT method. Immunocytochemistry was used to detect the expression of p73¦Á and p53 in the cancer cells. RESULTS: The sensitivity of the 12 breast cancer cells in 0.1¡ÁPPC within 72 h in vitro was 42% (MMC), 33 % (EPI) and 17% (both 5ª²FU and DDP). The inhibitory rates of MMC, EPI, 5ª²FU and DDP were significantly higher in p73¦Á positive cancer cells than in p73¦Á negative cancer cells. A positive correlation was found between the expression of p73¦Á and chemosensitivity in all the four anticancer drugs. CONCLUSION: The expression of p73¦Á is related to the chemosensitivity of the breast cancer cells and it can be used as one of the markers for clinical assessment of the effect of chemotherapy. ......