Progranulin as a Prognostic Biomarker for Breast Cancer Recurrence in Patients Who Had Hormone Receptor-Positive Tumors: A Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: Progranulin (PGRN) is considered to play an important role in breast cancer tumorigenesis and in inhibiting tamoxifen-induced apoptosis. We aimed to determine whether PGRN levels are associated with breast cancer recurrence after curative surgery. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We evaluated the associations between preoperative serum PGRN levels and breast cancer recurrence in a cohort of 697 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients who underwent curative surgery between April 2001 and December 2004. The mean age ± standard deviation (SD) was 46±9.8 years, and all patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive tumors received adjuvant tamoxifen therapy. At a median follow-up of 62.2 months (range, 2.9–98.2), 89 patients (12.8%) had experienced a recurrence and 51 patients (7.3%) had died. In the HR-positive group, serum PGRN levels were associated with recurrence according to the log-rank test for trend (p for trend = 0.049). There was no association between PGRN levels and recurrence in the HR-negative group (p for trend = 0.658). Adjusted hazard ratios, including possible confounders, revealed a linear relationship between serum PGRN levels and recurrence in the HR-positive group (p for trend = 0.049), and this association was further strengthened after excluding patients who had no lymph node metastasis (p for trend = 0.038). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Serum PGRN levels were clinically significant for predicting recurrence in patients with HR-positive breast cancer during adjuvant tamoxifen therapy.