Stathmin and phospho-stathmin protein signature is associated with survival outcomes of breast cancer patients

Abstract

Currently, Stathmin1 (STMN1) and phospho-STMN1 levels in breast cancers and their clinical implications are unknown. We examined the expression of STMN1 and its serine phospho-site (Ser16, Ser25, Ser38, and Ser63) status by immunohistochemistry. Using Cox regression analysis, a STMN1 expression signature and phosphorylation profile plus clinicopathological characteristics (STMN1-E/P/C) was developed in the training set (n = 204) and applied to the validation set (n = 106). This tool enabled us to separate breast cancer patients into high- and low-risk groups with significantly different disease-free survival (DFS) rates (P < 0.001). Importantly, this STMN1-E/P/C model had a greater prognostic value than the traditional TNM classifier, especially in luminal subtype breast cancer (P = 0.002). Further analysis showed that patients in the low-risk group would benefit more from adjuvant paclitaxel-based chemotherapy (P = 0.002). In conclusion, the STMN1-E/P/C signature is a reliable prognostic indicator for luminal subtype breast cancer and may predict the therapeutic response to paclitaxel-based treatments, potentially facilitating individualized management.