Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34978016›Full record

ArticleBreast cancer research and treatment2022

PTEN promoter methylation predicts 10-year prognosis in hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer patients who received adjuvant tamoxifen endocrine therapy.

Yu Fan, Guiqin Xie, Zhu Wang, Yu Wang, Yanping Wang, Hong Zheng, Xiaorong Zhong

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Breast cancer research and treatment, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
3.4field-weighted citation impact, top 6% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Review
  3. Decoding the Epigenome of Breast Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025
    Review
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Yu FanLaboratory of Molecular Diagnosis of Cancer, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, People's Republic of China.
Guiqin XieLaboratory of Molecular Diagnosis of Cancer, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, People's Republic of China.
Zhu WangLaboratory of Molecular Diagnosis of Cancer, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, People's Republic of China.
Yu WangLaboratory of Molecular Diagnosis of Cancer, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, People's Republic of China.
Yanping WangLaboratory of Molecular Diagnosis of Cancer, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, People's Republic of China.
Hong ZhengLaboratory of Molecular Diagnosis of Cancer, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, People's Republic of China.
Xiaorong ZhongLaboratory of Molecular Diagnosis of Cancer, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, People's Republic of China. zhongxiaorong@wchscu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1812-7213
Sichuan University · CN

Funding

National Key Development Plan for Precision Medicine Research 2017YFC0910004National Natural Science Foundation of China 81202099West China Hospital, Sichuan University ZYJC21035
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThere remain a lack of biomarkers for endocrine therapy resistance in patients with breast cancer (BC), which is proving to be a great challenge. In vitro experiments have shown that downregulation of PTEN expression leads to resistance to tamoxifen (TAM) in BC cells. We aimed to investigate the predictive role of tumor PTEN promoter methylation and PTEN expression in long-term survival after TAM adjuvant therapy in patients with early-stage BC.

methodsFrom 2001 to 2013, 105 patients with stage I-III BC who were treated with standardized adjuvant TAM for 5 years or until relapse in West China Hospital (WCH) were enrolled in this study. PTEN expression and DNA methylation of three specified sequences from the PTEN promoter in primary tumors were measured using immunohistochemistry and pyrosequencing. A cohort of 159 hormone receptor-positive patients receiving TAM treatment from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database was used for verification.

resultsMedian follow-up time for the WCH cohort was 141.7 months. The low, moderate, and high PTEN expression groups had differing 10-year disease-free survival (DFS) (42.3%, 55%, 81%, respectively, P = 0.027) and overall survival (OS) rates (65%, 84.2%, 90.5%, respectively, P = 0.027). Higher methylation levels of the second sequence (- 819 to - 787 bp), rather than the first (- 1143 to - 1107 bp) or third sequence (- 663 to - 593 bp), independently increased the risk of disease recurrence (hazard ratio = 2.60) and death (hazard ratio = 3.79) in the WCH cohort, according to multivariate Cox regression analysis. Importantly, out of the five CpG islands located within this sequence, only high methylation of the - 796 CpG island predicted shorter DFS and OS. In TCGA validation cohort, there was also a trend of higher methylation of the - 796 CpG island correlating with shorter disease-free intervals, with borderline significance (P = 0.057).

conclusionLow PTEN expression and high methylation of its promoter (sequence - 819 to - 787 bp) in tissue predict poor DFS and OS in hormone receptor-positive early BC patients who received adjuvant TAM.

Indexed as

Breast NeoplasmsTamoxifenChemotherapy, AdjuvantDisease-Free SurvivalDNA MethylationFemaleHormonesHumansNeoplasm Recurrence, LocalPrognosisPTEN PhosphohydrolaseHormonesPTEN PhosphohydrolasePTEN protein, humanTamoxifen10-year survivalBreast cancerPromoter methylationPTENTamoxifen

Identifiers

PMID34978016
PMCPMC8841328
OpenAlexW4205399187

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.