Background: Beclin-1 plays a vital role in the vesicle nucleation in the process of autophagy and has an important role in development, tumor genesis, and neurodegeneration.
Methods: Immunohistochemistry was performed to examine the expression of Beclin-1 in 50 cases of breast cancer.
Statistical analysis methods were used to evaluate the relationship between Beclin-1 and different clinicopathological parameters.
Results: Beclin-1 was found to be decreased in breast cancer. The current study revealed that there was a significant positive correlation between Beclin-1 and grade, distant metastasis, stage and molecular subtype of IDC.
No significant correlation between Beclin-1 and age of patient, tumor size, lymph node metastasis ER and PR hormonal status and Ki 67 proliferation index.
Conclusions: Our results suggested that the over-expression of Beclin 1 may by itself confer an aggressive biological course due its tumor supporter function that enables survival and invasion of tumor cells.