The nm23-Hl gene, identified from murine melanoma cell line, is located in the chromosome 17q22. Its meaning as an anti-metastatic marker was potentiated by the fact that the transfection of nm23-Hl gene into a murine melanoma cell line with high metastatic potential resulted in a change to decreased metastatic capability. This study was designed to determine the frequency of nm23 protein expression in human breast carcinoma and to compare its result with other established prognostic parameters. We studied 8S breast carcinoma samples for the expression of anti-nm23/nucleoside diphosphate kinase A using immunohistochemical analysis. All the patients were female and 7 cases(8%) were not stained immunohistochemically. Among the positively stained group, 43 cases(48.9%) were weakly positive and 38 cases(43.2%) were stained strongly. Expression of nm23 decreased significantly as the tumor size increased and in axillary lymph node metastasis group. There was decreasing tendency of nm23 expression as the nuclear grade increased. Estrogen receptor status or menopausal status did not correlate with nm23 expression. The disease free survival rate was superior in the group with strongly positive expression of nm23. In conclusion, the results suggest that expression of nm23 protein may have a role in the suppression of lymph node metastasis in breast carcinoma.
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