Wnt signalling in human breast cancer: expression of the putative Wnt inhibitor Dickkopf-3 (DKK3) is frequently suppressed by promoter hypermethylation in mammary tumours

Table 3 Immunohistochemical analysis of DKK3 protein expression in breast cancer samples (n = 16) in relation to clinicopathological parameters

Age	Size¹ (pT)	Node status¹ (pN)	Grade	Histology	ER²	PR²	DKK3methylation	DKK3 IRS tumour³	DKK3 IRS normal⁴
49	1	0	3	IDC	-	-	-	9	12
85	2	1	3	IDC	-	-	n.a.	3	n.a.
69	2	1	2	ILC	-	-	-	9	12
82	3	1	3	IDC	-	-	+	6	n.a.
45	1	1	3	IDC	-	-	+	4	12
60	3	0	3	IDC	-	-	n.a.	8	n.a.
61	1	0	2	IDC	-	-	+	0	n.a.
72	1	0	2	IDC	-	-	n.a.	4	n.a.
44	1	1	3	IDC	-	-	-	12	12
86	2	n.a.	3	IDC	-	-	-	8	n.a.
60	1	1	3	IDC	+	-	+	2	9
66	1	0	2	IDC	+	+	+	3	n.a.
54	2	0	3	IDC	+	-	+	6	12
83	1	0	2	IDC	+	+	-	9	n.a.
79	2	0	3	IDC	+	+	-	8	12
62	4	1	3	IDC	+	-	+	3	9

¹According to International Union Against Cancer: TNM Classification of Malignant Tumours [32]. ²According to Remmele and Stegner [35]. ³According to Remmele and Stegner [35] as a continuous variable. ⁴Matched normal breast epithelial tissue. IRS = immunoreactivity score. IDC = invasive ductal carcinoma. ILC = invasive lobular carcinoma. n.a. = not available.

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