Comparison between CD44 Expressions on the Surface of Tumoral Cells in Breast Invasive Ductal Carcinoma

CD44 is a cell surface glycoprotein which its expression on the surface of neoplastic cells in breast invasive ductal carcinoma seems to be associated with increased aggressive potential of tumor. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of this antigen on neoplastic cells in this type of cancer according to the metastasis to axillary lymph nodes. This study was performed on 80 cases of breast invasive ductal carcinoma treated by mastectomy with documented status of axilliary lymph nodes metastasis. Slides prepared from formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tumoral tissue were stained for CD44 immunohistochemically, and the frequency of CD44 immunoreactivity in two groups (with and without axilliary lymph node metastasis) was assessed by chi-square test. Mean number of metastatic lymph nodes in two groups (with and without CD44) was assessed by t-student test. The significance level was set at p