AKAP12 Expression in HER2-positive Breast Cancer and Its Clinical Significance

Objective To investigate the expression of AKAP12 in HER2-positive breast cancer and its relation with clinicopathological factors and clinical significance. Methods UALCAN database was used to explore AKAP12 mRNA expression in breast cancer and para-cancerous tissues. AKAP12 protein expression in 120 cases of breast cancer tissues, adjacent tissues and 8 cases of metastases tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry. Then we analyzed the relation between AKAP12 protein expression and clinicopathological factors. Bc-GenExMiner v4.4 database was used to explore the relation between AKAP12 mRNA expression and overall survival. The relation between AKAP12 protein expression and overall survival was analyzed by GraphPad Prism 7.0. Results AKAP12 expression in breast cancer tissues was lower than that in para-cancerous tissues (P < 0.05). AKAP12 protein expression in metastasis was lower than that in primary lesion (P < 0.05). AKAP12 was negatively related to tumor size and TNM stage (P < 0.05). Survival analysis showed that patients with low AKAP12 mRNA and protein expression had shorter overall survival than those with high AKAP12 expression (P < 0.05). Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses revealed that AKAP12 expression, vascular infiltration and radiotherapy were independent risk factors for the prognosis of HER2-positive breast cancer patients. Conclusion The low AKAP12 expression is related to the prognosis of HER2-positive breast cancer patients.