Relationship between ZWINT and CDK2 expression and clinicopathological features and their diagnostic values in breast cancer

Objective To investigate the relationship between the expression of Zeste White 10 interactor（ZWINT）and Cyclin-dependent kinase 2（CDK2）and clinicopathological features in breast cancer，and evaluate their pathological diagnostic values in breast cancer. Methods GEPIA database was utilized to analyze the difference in the expression of ZWINT between breast cancer and normal breast tissues and assess the correlation between ZWINT and CDK2 expression in breast cancer. Kaplan-Meier Plotter database was employed to predict the relationship between ZWINT expression and clinical prognosis of breast cancer patients. Paraffin-embedded pathological specimens of 84 cases of breast cancer and paired paracancerous tissues and fresh specimens of 20 cases of breast cancer and paired paracancerous tissues were collected. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction（RT-qPCR）and immunohistochemical staining were used to detect the expression levels of ZWINT and CDK2 mRNA and protein in breast cancer and paracancerous normal breast tissues，to analyze the relationship between ZWINT and CDK2 expression levels and clinicopathological features of breast cancer. Association analysis was used to analyze the correlation between ZWINT and CDK2. Receiver operating characteristic（ROC）curve was delineated to evaluate the values of ZWINT and CDK2 in the pathological diagnosis of breast cancer. Results The results of database analysis showed that ZWINT was highly expressed in breast cancer tissues and there was a positive correlation between the expression of ZWINT and CDK2 in breast cancer（rs = 0.600，P < 0.001）. The expression of ZWINT was closely correlated with clinical prognosis of breast cancer patients（all P < 0.05）. The test results of 84 cases showed that the expression levels of ZWINT and CDK2 mRNA and protein in breast cancer tissues were higher than those in para-carcinoma tissues（both P < 0.05），and high expression was closely correlated with tumor size，tumor stage and lymph node metastasis（all P < 0.05）. Association analysis revealed that the degree of association of Φ and Cramer V coefficient test under symmetric measurements was the same as 0.322（P = 0.003），while the column linkage number was 0.306（P = 0.003）. The expression levels of ZWINT and CDK2 proteins were closely correlated. The areas under the ROC curve of ZWINT and CDK2 were 0.886 and 0.818，which yielded high diagnostic values for breast cancer. Conclusions ZWINT and CDK2 expression levels are closely correlated the occurrence，development and prognosis of breast cancer. Detection of ZWINT and CDK2 contributes to pathological diagnosis of breast cancer.