Figure 1.
All breast tissue sections used for TG2 immunostaining were scored on the basis of % positivity and intensity. The total score was calculated as sum total of scores for % positivity and intensity as described in Materials and Methods. Panel A shows the score distribution of TG2 (cytoplasm/stroma) in breast normal and cancer tissues. Panel B and C shows the score distribution of TG2 among different histological types of breast cancer in cytoplasm and stroma respectively.
Figure 2.
Immunohistochemistry of TG2 in breast cancer tissues.
Panel shows (a) cytoplasmic TG2 immunostaining in (i) Normal (ii) DCIS, (iii) IDC, (iv) ILC; and (v) IMC. Panel (b) shows (i) Normal and (ii) DCIS with no TG2 immunostaining in stroma. Strong TG2 immunostaining was observed in tumor stroma of: (iii) IDC, (iv) ILC and (v) IMC. Arrows show cytoplasmic (C) TG2 staining and stromal (S) TG2 staining (Original Magnification X400).
Table 1.
Transglutaminase 2 (TG2) expression in cytoplasm and stroma in breast cancer.
Figure 3.
Panel (A) depicts the IHC scores for stromal TG2 staining in stage I (n = 75, mean score = 1.94), stage II (n = 75, mean score = 3.94), stage III (n = 4, mean score = 4.625) and stage IV (n = 14, mean score = 4.40) IDCs; Panel (B) depicts the increase in IHC scores of TG2 immunostaining in stroma with tumor size, tumor size >2 cm (n = 64, mean score = 3.50) as compared to IDC cases with tumor size ≤2 cm (n = 104, mean score = 2.60); Panel (C) shows increased TG2 stromal staining in 63 IDCs with positive lymph nodes (mean score = 4.53) as compared to 105 cases with negative lymph nodes (mean score = 2.43); Panel (D) shows the increase in IHC scores of TG2 stromal staining in IDCs with recurrence (loco-regional recurrence/distant metastasis ), (n = 37, mean score = 4.49) as compared to IDCs without recurrence, (n = 131, mean score = 2.73).
Table 2.
Transglutaminase 2 (TG2) expression in cytoplasm and stroma of breast invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC).
Figure 4.
Kaplan Meier Survival Analysis.
Panel (a) Kaplan Meier survival analysis in breast cancer patients. Panel shows breast cancer patients with TG2 overexpression in tumor stroma have significantly reduced DFS (mean DFS = 112 months, p = 0.002) as compared to patients with low or no detectable expression of stromal TG2 (mean DFS = 127 months). Panel (b) shows patients with IDCs of the breast demonstrating stromal TG2 overexpression have reduced DFS (mean DFS = 110 months, p<0.001) in comparison with patients showing lower TG2 expression in tumor stroma (mean DFS = 130 months).
Table 3.
Survival analysis of Breast cancer patients.
Figure 5.
Immunohistochemistry of N-epsilon gamma-glutamyl lysine amino residues in IDC tissues.
Panel shows (i) strong immunostaining for N-epsilon gamma-glutamyl lysine amino residues in both cytoplasm and stroma of IDC that showed strong TG2 staining; (ii) faint cytoplasmic but no staining for N-epsilon gamma-glutamyl lysine amino residues in stroma of IDCs that showed weak TG2 staining and (iii) negative control showing no TG2 immunostaining in either cytoplasm or stroma of IDCs (Original Magnification X400).