Expression and clinical significance of TEM8 protein in triple-negative breast cancer

Background and ObjectivesTumor Endothelial Marker 8 (TEM8) is integral to angiogenesis, tumor microenvironment remodeling, and cancer cell proliferation, and its expression is upregulated in a variety of malignancies. Despite its potential as both a prognostic biomarker and a therapeutic target in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), the exact role of TEM8 in TNBC remains poorly understood. This study seeks to examine the expression of TEM8 protein in TNBC and explore its associations with clinicopathological characteristics and patient survival outcomes.MethodsClinical and pathological data from 118 patients diagnosed with TNBC via surgical pathology between January 2015 and December 2017 were retrospectively analyzed at Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital. A total of 35 adjacent non-cancerous tissue samples were randomly selected from the tumor tissue samples of the 118 TNBC patients. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was employed to assess the expression levels of TEM8 and CD31 proteins. The correlations between TEM8 expression and various clinicopathological features, as well as survival status, were analyzed.ResultThe positive expression rate of TEM8 in TNBC tumor tissues was 89.8% (106/118), significantly higher than 60% (21/35) observed in adjacent non-tumorous tissues (χ² = 17.029, <i>P</i> < .01). TEM8 expression was significantly correlated with microvessel density (MVD), axillary lymph node status, and TNM staging. Moreover, patients with high TEM8 expression levels exhibited significantly lower overall survival (OS) rates compared to those with low TEM8 expression. Multivariate analysis revealed that TEM8 expression and tumor size were independent prognostic factors for OS.ConclusionsTEM8 is highly expressed in TNBC tissues and is closely associated with angiogenesis, tumor proliferation, lymph node metastasis, and poor prognosis. TEM8 may serve as a potential prognostic marker, offering new insights for the diagnosis and therapeutic strategies in TNBC.