Cathepsin-D in Human Breast Cancer: Correlation with Vascular Invasion and Other Clinical and Histopathological Characteristics

The relationship between the Cathepsin-D concentration in breast cancer cytosols and clinical and histopathological characteristics of the tumours was investigated, including vascular invasion, histological type, histological grade, lymph node involvement and tumour size. The median cathepsin-D concentration of a series of 738 primary breast carcinomas was used to define ''low'' and ''high'' cathepsin-D. High cathepsin-D concentration was associated with peritumoral vascular invasion, with high grade infiltrating duct carcinomas, with tumours of greater than or equal to 2 diameter, and with metastases in the axillary lymph nodes. Low cathepsin-D concentration was associated with in-situ carcinomas.