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Background: Aldehyde
dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) is a marker of normal and malignant human mammary
stem cells that has been reported to be associated with poor prognosis. Studies
on the detection of ALDH1+ cells can help the treatment of patients with
breast cancer. The aim of this study was to determine the activity of ALDH1 in breast
cancer and its relationship with the pathological features of the tumors.
Methods: ALDH1 activity was studied by
immunohistochemistry in 121 paraffin-embedded histological
samples of breast cancer patients from Department of Pathology of Milad
Hospital, Tehran, Iran during 2006-2007. The
relationship of ALDH1 with the pathological features of the tumors (size,
grade, lymph node metastasis and vascular invasion) was also investigated.
Results: Eighty-five percent of breast cancer
samples expressed ALDH1 in their cytoplasm with a wide range
of intensity (weak, moderate and strong), while 18 samples (14.9%) were completely negative. The
majority of cases (97.1%) showed ALDH1 positivity in the stroma of tumors which varied from
weak (2.9%) to strong (73.5%). ALDH1 H-score (ALDH1% × intensity) of tumor cells varied from 0 to 240 (mean= 80). ALDH1 H-score was ≤80 in 62 (51.2%) and >80 in 59 (48.8%) samples. There
was no statistically significant relationship between ALDH1 H-score and age (P=0.358), tumor size (P=0.375), tumor grade (P=0.207), lymph node metastasis (P=0.125) or vascular
invasion (P=0.190).
Conclusion: ALDH1 activity was
demonstrated in 85.1% of
breast cancer samples although its level of expression was not correlated with
the pathologic features of breast tumors.
