The spectrum of 67‐kD laminin receptor expression in breast carcinoma progression

P Viacava, AG Naccarato, P Collecchi… - The Journal of …, 1997 - Wiley Online Library
P Viacava, AG Naccarato, P Collecchi, S Menard, V Castronovo, G Bevilacqua
The Journal of Pathology: A Journal of the Pathological Society of …, 1997Wiley Online Library
Laminin is a glycoprotein of the basement membrane (BM), involved in a variety of normal
and pathological cellular events including tumour invasion and metastasis. Cells bind
laminin through different types of receptor. The 67‐kD laminin receptor (67LR) is a cell‐
surface protein which binds laminin with high affinity. 67LR expression has been shown to
increase in neoplastic cells, compared with normal tissues, and 67LR seems to play an
important role during the first steps of neoplastic progression. In this study, 67LR expression …
Abstract
Laminin is a glycoprotein of the basement membrane (BM), involved in a variety of normal and pathological cellular events including tumour invasion and metastasis. Cells bind laminin through different types of receptor. The 67‐kD laminin receptor (67LR) is a cell‐surface protein which binds laminin with high affinity. 67LR expression has been shown to increase in neoplastic cells, compared with normal tissues, and 67LR seems to play an important role during the first steps of neoplastic progression. In this study, 67LR expression was analysed during the morphological phases of breast cancer progression from normal tissue to invasive carcinoma. A total of 506 formalin‐fixed, paraffin‐embedded normal breast structures and lesions were stained by immunohistochemistry using the MLuC5 monoclonal antibody, which is specific for 67LR. The results show that in normal breast and in any kind of breast lesion, myoepithelial and endothelial cells express 67LR. While 67LR is not seen in the epithelium of normal breast, cysts, adenosis, and benign tumours, it is expressed in the epithelial cells of several hyperplasias and carcinomas in situ, both ductal and lobular, as well as in all invasive carcinomas. The 67LR‐positive cell subpopulation expands from hyperplastic lesions to invasive carcinoma, suggesting that 67LR could be related to the induction and progression of breast cancer. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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