Background: Beclin-1 plays a vital role in the vesicle
nucleation in the process of autophagy and has an important
role in development, tumorigenesis, and neurodegeneration.
Aim of Study: Study the role of beclin-1 and correlate the
degree of its expression with available clinic-pathological
data in different molecular types of breast cancer.
Material and Methods: Immunohistochemistry was performed
to examine the expression of Beclin-1 different molecular
subtypes of invasive ductal carcinoma and correlating
it to clinicopathological parameter.
Results: The expression of Beclin-1 was decreased in
breast cancer in relation to normal tissue. High expression
was significantly correlated with tumor grade, distant metastasis
and stage. All the cases with high Beclin-1 expression
were triple negative breast cancer cases.
Conclusions: Triple negative breast cancer cases showed
the highest tumor stage, grade, distant metastasis and beclin-
1 expression suggesting that the overexpression of Beclin 1
may by itself confer an aggressive biological course. It could
be a therapeutic target.