Clinicopathological significance of Sox10 expression in triple-negative breast carcinoma

Background This study aimed to investigate the SRY-related higll-mobility-group box 10 (Sox10) expression in the pathological diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Furthermore, its correlation with the clinicopathological characteristics and disease-free survival rate in patients with TNBC was also evaluated to identify the diagnostic utility of Sox10 as a reliable biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of TNBC. Methods Using immunohistochemistry (IHC), we identified the expression of Sox10, GATA binding protein 3 (GATA-3), forkhead box protein A1 (FOXA1), gross cystic disease fluid protein (GCDFP15), and mammaglobin (MGB) in 376 cases of primary invasive breast cancer, and 77 cases of metastatic breast cancer. The expression of Sox10 in different molecular subtypes of primary invasive breast cancer and metastatic breast cancer were also compared. Furthermore, the correlation between Sox10 expression and clinicopathological parameters and disease-free survival (DFS) of patients with primary TNBC were also analyzed. Results Expression of Sox10 was only detected in the myoepithelial cells of normal breast tissue, but not in any other types of cells, including luminal cells and fibroblasts. The positive rate of Sox10 in primary and metastatic TNBC was significantly higher than that in luminal types and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpressed type. The sensitivity and specificity of Sox10 expression in primary TNBC and metastatic TNBC were significantly lower than GATA-3, significantly higher than FOXA1, GCDFP15, and MGB (P