BACKGROUND: The clinical outcome of patients with breast cancer (BC) remains poor.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We analyzed BC microarray studies GSE37751, GSE7390, and GSE21653 to investigate the expression of FGF5 gene between BC patients and their normal counterparts and the relationship between FGF5 expression and age, tumor size, histopathological grading, estrogen receptors, clinical risk group according to St Gallen criteria, clinical risk group according to NPI criteria, clinical risk group according to Veridex signature, distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), time to distant metastasis (TDM), disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) of BC patients. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used to investigate the exact mechanisms.

RESULTS: FGF5 expression was significantly upregulated in BC patients relative to that in normal controls (P<0.0001). BC patients in the FGF5 low-expression group were correlated with better clinical characteristics, including tumor size, histopathological grading, estrogen receptors, clinical risk group according to St Gallen criteria, NPI criteria and Veridex signature, DMFS, TDM, and DFS compared with those in the FGF5 high-expression cohort. The result of GSEA indicated that FGF5 inhibits the proliferation of BC cells via ultraviolet response and TGF-b signaling. Quantitative PCR verified that FGF5 was overexpressed in patients with BC.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that FGF5 is an independent protective factor for BC patients.

Keywords: Genetic Association Studies, Receptor, Fibroblast Growth Factor, Type 5