Comparison of BRCA1 Expression between Triple-Negative and Luminal Breast Tumors

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have suggested that BRCA1 dysregulation has been shown to have a role in triple-negative phenotypic manifestation. However, differences of BRCA1 expression, as a tumor suppressor gene, have rarely been investigated between luminal and triple-negative breast tumors. Therefore, the present study attempted to compare the BRCA1 expression in triple-negative with luminal breast tumors and its association with the clinicopathologic characteristics of patients. METHODS: BRCA1 expression was evaluated by real-time PCR in 26 triple-negative and 27 luminal breast tumors. RESULTS: The results revealed that there is a high frequency of BRCA1 underexpression in both triple-negative and luminal breast tumors. The BRCA1 underexpression was related to young age at diagnosis, lymph node involvement, and grade III tumors. CONCLUSION: The observations suggest that decreased BRCA1 expression, regardless of tumor subtype, has a general role in breast malignancy and associated with poor prognostic features in breast tumors.