• Precious Barnes, Abraham Mensah, Leonard Derkyi-Kwarteng, Ernest Adankwa, Elvis Agbo, Ewura Seidu Yahaya, Benjamin Amoani, George Adjei, Samuel Mingyigilougu Apewe Ka-Chungu, Patrick Kafui Akakpo, Faustina Halm-Lai, Kwabena Dankwa, Daniel Amoako-Sakyi, Samuel Victor Nuvor, Dorcas Obiri-Yeboah, and Roland Osei Saahene.
• Department of Physician Assistant Studies, School of Allied Health Sciences, College of Health and Allied Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
• Med Princ Pract. 2024 May 10; 33 (4): 1111-11.

AbstractBreast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among African women, with high mortality rates in Ghana. Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) has been associated with tumor progression in breast cancer. However, its clinical validation is controversial and understudied with no known published data on NF-kB (p65) among breast cancer patients in Ghana and other African countries. This study assessed the prognostic significance of NF-kB (p65) expression and its association with various clinicopathological features in breast cancer patients. Ninety formalin-fixed breast cancer tissues and 15 normal breast tissues were used to determine the expression of NF-kB (p65) using immunohistochemistry. We explored the correlation between expression of NF-kB (p65) and clinicopathological features. NF-kB (p65) was expressed in 86.7% of breast cancer tissues. There was a significant relationship between NF-kB (p65) expression and tumor grade, proliferation index (Ki67), and molecular subtype. High NF-kB (p65) expression in tumor grade 3 was about 10 times that of grade 1 (54.2% vs. 5.1%), and Ki67 > 20 was 79.7% compared to 20.3% for Ki67 ≤ 20. Patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) had 49.1% overexpression of NF-kB (p65) compared to 17%, 25.4%, and 8.5% for luminal A, luminal B, and HER2 cases, respectively. This study demonstrates that NF-kB (p65) was highly expressed among breast cancer patients at Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, Ghana, especially in TNBC. NF-kB (p65) could serve as a biomarker for cancer stage, progression, prognosis and as a therapeutic target.© 2024 The Author(s). Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.

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