Positive correlation between expression level of mitochondrial serine hydroxymethyltransferase and breast cancer grade

Figures & data

Figure 1 Expression of SHMT2 in breast cancer and its distant noncancerous tissues.

Notes: Breast cancer samples were of two types-infiltrating lobular carcinoma and invasive ductal carcinoma. The percentage of SHMT2 positive cells was rated as follows: −, ≤5% positive tumor cells (A, B); +, 5–30% positive cells (C, D); ++, 30–55% positive cells (E, F); and +++, >55% positive cells (G). Bar: 200 μm.
Abbreviation: SHMT2, mitochondrial serine hydroxymethyltransferase.

Table 1 The proportion of SHMT2 positive samples in breast cancer

Class	Number	SHMT2 grade (number/%)
		−	+	++	+++
Infiltrating lobular carcinoma	56	0/0.00	7/12.50	28/50.00	21/37.50
Invasive ductal carcinoma	20	0/0.00	12/57.20	8/38.10	0/0.00
Total	76	0/0.00	19/25.00	36/47.40	21/27.60

Notes: The percentage of SHMT2 positive cells was rated as follows: −, ≤5% positive tumor cells; +, 5–30% positive cells; ++, 30–55% positive cells; and +++, >55% positive cells. Abbreviation: SHMT2, mitochondrial serine hydroxymethyltransferase.

Table 2 Association between SHMT2 expression and clinicopathological factors from breast cancer patients

Clinicopathological features	Variable	N (%)	The proportion of SHMT2 positive cells (mean ± SD)	P-value
Age (years)	≥60	7 (9.2)	0.453±0.235	0.945
	<60	69 (90.8)	0.402±0.264
Tumor size (cm)	≤2.00	32 (42.1)	0.378±0.239	0.756
	2.01–5.00	35 (46.1)	0.442±0.256
	≥5.00	9 (11.8)	0.374±0.331
Histology grade	I	4 (5.3)	0.245±0.098	0.037
	II	37 (48.7)	0.309±0.104
	III	35 (46.1)	0.528±0.115
TNM stage	I	10 (13.2)	0.368±0.330	0.858
	II	57 (75)	0.424±0.389
	III	7 (9.2)	0.357±0.268
	IV	2 (2.6)	0.300±0.157
Lymph node metastasis	Yes	46 (60.5)	0.468±0.245	0.482
	No	30 (39.5)	0.367±0.325
Vascular invasion	Yes	53 (69.7)	0.415±0.329	0.528
	No	23 (30.3)	0.309±0.267
ER	+	62 (81.6)	0.309±0.189	0.329
	−	14 (18.4)	0.408±0.278
PR	+	55 (72.4)	0.339±0.267	0.209
	−	21 (27.6)	0.456±0.328
HER2	+	47 (61.8)	0.378±0.216	0.398
	−	29 (38.2)	0.429±0.319

Abbreviations: ER, estrogen receptor, PR, progesterone receptor, HER2, human epidermal growth factor-2; SHMT2, mitochondrial serine hydroxymethyltransferase; SD, standard deviation; TNM, tumor node metastasis.