Elevated heparanase expression is associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer: a study based on systematic review and TCGA data

// Xu Sun 1 , Ganlin Zhang 1 , Jiayun Nian 1,2 , Mingwei Yu 1 , Shijian Chen 3 , Yi Zhang 1 , Guowang Yang 1 , Lin Yang 1 , Peiyu Cheng 1 , Chen Yan 1,2 , Yunfei Ma 1 , Hui Meng 1,2 , Xiaomin Wang 1 and Jin-Ping Li 1,4 1 Department of Oncology, Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated to Capital Medical University, Beijing, China 2 School of Graduates, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China 3 Department of Neurology, Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Liuzhou, China 4 Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden Correspondence to: Xiaomin Wang, email: // Keywords : heparanase, breast cancer, prognosis Received : September 09, 2016 Accepted : March 10, 2017 Published : March 25, 2017 Abstract Heparanase promotes tumorigenesis, angiogenesis, and metastasis. Here, we conducted a study based on systematic review and the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data that examined heparanase expression in clinical samples to determine its prognostic value. According to the meta-analysis and TCGA data, we found that heparanase expression was up-regulated in most breast cancer specimens, and elevated heparanase expression was associated with increased lymph node metastasis, larger tumor size, higher histological grade, and poor survival. These results suggest that targeting heparanase might improve treatments for breast cancer patients.