An evaluation of fatty acid-CoA ligase 4 in breast cancer

Background: Fatty acid-CoA ligase 4 (FACL4) has been detected in various types of tumors. However, there is still very limited information about the role of FACL4 in breast cancer. Tissue microarray (TMA ) technique analyzes thousands of specimens in a parallel fashion with minimal damage to the original blocks. This study was designed with the application of TMA to analyze the FACL4 status in breast cancer. Materials and Methods: Archival tissue specimens from 102 patients with primary invasive breast cancer were selected and FACL4 expression was analyzed by immunhistochemical staining with TMA. The data of primary tumor staging, age, estrogen receptor status, lymph node status, histological grading and TNM staging were also collected. Results: As shown my multivariate analysis, TNM stage was significantly related to the overall five-year survival rate. Nevertheless, FACL4 expression failed to have any significant relationship to overall five-year survival. Conclusion: Immuno-histochemical staining with TMA was convenient and feasible for the analysis of FACL4 expression status in breast cancer. Our preliminary results showed that FACL4 expression had no significant prognostic value in breast cancer.