Background
Cancer is considered a stem cell disease. Many stem cell markers are recently well
known to have main roles in carcinogenesis and tumor progression. Aldehyde
dehydrogenase 1A1 (ALDH1A1) is a stem cell marker that thought to have a role in
many cancers. This study aimed to evaluate the expression of ALDH1A1 in different
molecular types of breast invasive ductal carcinomas (NOS), and its relation to
clinicopathological data.
Materials and methods
This is a retrospective study carried out on 40 cases of NOS of the breast. The
cases were collected from archives of Early Cancer Detection Unit, Benha Faculty
of Medicine and Pathology Department, International Medical Center, between the
years 2007 and 2013. Previously estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, Her2/
neu and Ki-67 stained slides were reevaluated for each case. Both tumoral and
stromal expression of ALDH1A1 was also evaluated for each case.
Results
A significant positive correlation of ALDH1A1 tumoral expression was observed in
patients with age more than 55 years (P