HISTAMINE H4 RECEPTOR EXPRESSION IN TRIPLE NEGATIVE BREAST CANCER: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

SPEISKY, DANIELA; TÁQUEZ DELGADO, MÓNICA A.; IOTTI, ALEJANDRO; SARASOLA, MARÍA DE LA PAZ; MELISA B NICOUD; VIGOVICH, FÉLIX; DEZANZO, PABLO; ERNST, GLENDA; URIBURU, JUAN L.; MEDINA, VA

Congreso; LXV Reunión Anual de la SAIC, Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica; 2020

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive BC subtype.Unfortunately, there are neither universally accepted prognostic markers to predict outcomes, nor specific molecular targets relatedto TNBC. The histamine H4 receptor (H4R) has been characterizedin TNBC experimental models, demonstrating its critical role in tumordevelopment and progression. Limited information about the associationof H4R expression with markers of prognosis is available.In this study, we investigated the H4R expression in samples of 26TNBC patients and its correlation with clinicopathological features,and survival estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Positive H4Rimmunoreactivity was observed in about 65% and 81% of tumorspecimens and peritumoral breast tissue, respectively. A moderatepositive correlation was found between the expression of H4R inthe tumoral and peritumoral tissue (Spearman r: 0.4412, P=0.0398).Elevated H4R expression in peritumoral tissue and tumors was observedin patients with negative lymph node metastasis and unifocalTNBC. Even more, a negative correlation between H4R expressionand the number of lymph node involvement was observed in peritumoraltissue (Spearman r: -0.5429, P=0.0110), accompanied by asimilar tendency in relation to the tumor size. However, no significantassociation was observed between the H4R expression and tumorgrade, stage, Ki67 percentage and lymphovascular invasion in bothtumor and histologically-normal samples. Negative H4R expressionwas associated with reduced survival.In summary, these results suggest that H4R might represent a potentialprognostic biomarker in TNBC patients. Further studies inlarger cohorts are needed to better understand the significance ofH4R in breast cancer biology.