EXPRESSION OF PSA (PROSTATE SPECIFIC ANTIGEN) IN BREAST LESIONS AT A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL IN CHENGALPET DISTRICT

Abstract

Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) is a long-known biomarker of prostate disease but recent results indicate that it is also present in breast tissue and could be diagnostic and prognostic in breast tumors. The study compared the expression of PSA between benign and malignant lesions of the breast and its correlation with some clinicopathological parameters. A cross-sectional, observational, study was done on a total of 94 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded, breast tissue specimens of female patients in a tertiary care teaching hospital. A histopathologic analysis and the use of immunohistochemical staining of PSA were carried out. PSA expression was compared by grading based on the intensity of the stain, and the relationship with age, size of tumour, histological type, pathological stage and histological grade were compared using descriptive statistics, Spearman rank correlation and Chi-square test. The most common staining pattern was medium PSA expression (2+). Notable inverse linear relationships between the expression of PSA and the age of patients, the size of tumours, and the histology of tumours were observed. Increased PSA expression was found in fibroadenomas and most well differentiated invasive ductal carcinomas, whereas decreased or missing PSA expressions were found in malignant and poorly differentiated tumours. PSA expression and pathological stage were not alleviated by any statistically significant correlation. PSA expression had also shown considerable correlations with positive clinicopathological features and thus PSA could have been used in conjunction with immunohistochemical biomarkers as an auxiliary to differentiate benign and malignant breast lesions and tumour differentiation. It is proposed that larger multicentre studies are necessary to further provide proof of its diagnostic and prognostic value.