sFRP1 expression in invasive breast ductal carcinoma.

Introduction: Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC) is the most common form of breast cancers (70-80%). sFRP1 loss has been found in many cancer cell types, including breast cancer. Hence, it is of interest to do a retrospective study to determine whether a correlation exists between the amount of sFRP1 expression and IDC tumour grade. Material and Methods: Immunohistochemistry staining was done on 28 IDC cases of 3 cancer grades (8 grade 1, 10 grade 2, 10 grade 3) to detect the amount of sFRP1 protein present. A raw score for each case was obtained from the product of the intensity of the stain (1+, 2+, 3+) and the percentage of cells stained. Results: Pearson’s test showed that there was no significant correlation between tumour grade and sFRP1 expression. The correlation coefficient was 0.1273 (P=0.5186). Conclusion: While sFRP1 downregulation of promotes development of IDC, it does not translate to a direct correlation between sFRP1 expression and tumour grade. Future Direction: sFRP1 can be used in combination as a prognostic marker to develop further epigenetic therapies to counter or reverse the effects of Wnt signaling in IDC (in early detection), while tumour grade can still play a complementary role in determining prognosis of IDCBachelor of Science in Biomedical Science