Abstract:Objective To investigate the expression of Heparanase(Hpa) in normal breast tissue,atypical hyperplasia,intraductal carcinoma and invasive carcinoma,and to analyze the relationship between Hpa with clinicopathological factors and tumor lymphangiogenesis in breast cancer.Methods Twenty three cases of atypical hyperplasia tissues,34 cases of intraductal carcinoma tissues,80 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma tissue specimens,and 20 cases of normal breast tissues 5 cm away from the tumor edge after surgical removal were collected from the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi′an Jiaotong University between January 2015 and December 2007.The expressions of Hpa in different groups were detected by immunohistochemical method,and the relationship between Hpa expression and clinicopathological factors such as tumor diameter,axillary lymph node metastasis,pathological stage and expression of estrogen and progesterone receptor was analyzed.The lymphatic vessels were labeled with D2-40.The effect of Hpa expression on tumor lymphangiogenesis was analyzed.Results The positive rates of Hpa expression in normal breast tissue,atypical hyperplasia,intraductal carcinoma and invasive carcinoma were 15.0%,34.8%,52.9% and 76.3%,showed a gradually increasing trend( χ2=31.403, P ＜0.01).The positive expression rate of Hpa was statistically different between breast intraductal carcinoma and invasive carcinoma( χ2=6.093, P<0.05).There were significant differences in Hpa positive expression rate among groups of different clinical stages,lymph node metastasis and tumor diameter in invasive carcinoma( P<0.05).The MLD value of Hpa positive group was significantly higher than that of Hpa negative group in invasive carcinoma(9.961±4.329 vs 7.339±3.714, t=2.379, P<0.05).There was a positive correlation between Hpa expression and MLD ( r=0.603, P<0.05).Conclusions Hpa is highly expressed in invasive breast cancer,and its upregulation is related to lymphangiogenesis.