الفهرس 
Classification of Breast CancerOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Background & Objective: Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with variable behavior, and response to therapy. It is grouped into three main molecular subtypes: ER and/or PR expressing, Her2 expressing, or triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). There are no currently established targeted therapies for TNBC. The folate receptor alpha (FRA) is a glycosyl phosphatydil inositol (GPI) linked protein overexpressed in certain malignancies, along with its low coordinate expression in normal tissue. Therefore, FRA is an attractive target for directed therapies. The aim of this study is to assess FRA immunohistochemical expression in invasive breast carcinomas, and to explore its association with TNBC and non TNBC, trying to specify the subset of breast cancer patients who might benefit mostly from anti-folate receptors targeted therapy.
Materials & methods: This retrospective study was conducted on a total number of 60 cases of invasive breast carcinoma tissue samples: 30 cases of TNBC cases and 30 cases of non TNBC. All were retrieved from archives of the Pathology Lab of Ain-Shams Specialized Hospital. Immunohistochemistry using rabbit polyclonal anti folate receptor alpha antibody was performed to detect the expression of FRA, which was subsequently correlated with different pathological parameters.
Results: Statistically significant higher expression of FRA was noted in TNBC group in comparison with non TNBC group (P=0.02) On the other hand, no significant correlation was found between FRA expression and tumor size, tumor type, tumor grade or lymph node status.
Conclusion: FRA expression is strongly associated with TNBC cases, such association suggests its potential role in tumorigenesis. As such novel premises for treatment of TNBC are anticipated by targeting its molecule.