Abstract:

Objective To investigate the expressions of ASH2-like protein（ASH2L） and homeobox A2（HOXA2） in triple-negative breast cancer（TNBC） patients and their relationship with lymph node metastasis. Methods A total of 80 TNBC patients from Nanyang Central Hospital from June 2016 to June 2020 were enrolled，and their cancer tissue samples were collected. Totally，60 paired cancer adjacent tissue samples（≥5 cm from the edges of the tumors） were collected as controls. The clinical and pathological data were collected，and the expressions of ASH2L，HOXA2 mRNA and proteins were determined. The efficacy of ASH2L mRNA and HOXA2 mRNA in determining lymph node metastasis in TNBC patients was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic（ROC） curve. Results The relative expression levels of ASH2L mRNA，HOXA2 mRNA and protein positive rate were higher in cancer tissues than those in adjacent tissues（P<0.05）. The positive rates of ASH2L protein and HOXA2 protein in cancer tissues of TNBC patients with lymph node metastasis and TNM stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ were higher than those of TNBC patients without lymph node metastasis and TNM stage Ⅰ-Ⅱ（P<0.05）. There was no statistical significance in the positive rates of ASH2L protein and HOXA2 protein in cancer tissues from TNBC patients of different ages，tumor sizes and menopausal status（P>0.05）. The relative expression levels of ASH2L mRNA and HOXA2 mRNA in cancer tissues of TNBC patients with lymph node metastasis were higher than those without lymph node metastasis（P<0.05）. The areas under curves（AUC）of ASH2L mRNA and HOXA2 mRNA single determinations and combined determination for diagnosing lymph node metastasis in TNBC patients were 0.706，0.791 and 0.895，respectively. Conclusions The ASH2L and HOXA2 mRNA and proteins are highly expressed in cancer tissues of TNBC patients，and they are related with TNM staging and lymph node metastasis.

Key words: ASH2-like protein, Homeobox A2, Lymph node metastasis, Triple-negative breast cancer