Co-expression effect of LLGL2 and SLC7A5 to predict prognosis in ERα-positive breast cancer

Abstract Lethal giant larvae homolog 2 (LLGL2) and solute carrier family 7 member 5 (SLC7A5) have been reported to be involved in resistance to endocrine therapy. This study aimed to assess the effects of LLGL2/SLC7A5 co-expression in predicting prognosis and response to tamoxifen therapy in ERα-positive breast cancer patients according to LLGL2/SLC7A5 mRNA and protein expression in long-term follow-up invasive breast cancer tissues. We identified that low LLGL2/SLC7A5 mRNA co-expression (LLGL2 low/SLC7A5 low) was associated with disease-free survival (DFS) compared with other combination groups in all breast cancer patients. In ERα-positive breast cancer patients, LLGL2 low/SLC7A5 low showed longer DFS and overall survival (OS) compared with LLGL2 high/SLC7A5 high and a positive trend of longer survival compared with the other combination groups. We also observed that LLGL2 low/SLC7A5 low showed longer survival compared with LLGL2 high/SLC7A5 high in ERα-positive breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant tamoxifen therapy. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that LLGL2 low/SLC7A5 low was an independent favorable prognostic factor of both DFS and OS, not only in all breast cancer patients, but also in ERα-positive breast cancer patients. High co-expression of LLGL2 and SLC7A5 protein showed a positive trend of shorter survival. Our study showed that co-expression of LLGL2 and SLC7A5 mRNA is a promising candidate biomarker in early breast cancer patients.