Phosphorylated eIF2α predicts disease-free survival in triple-negative breast cancer patients

Phosphorylated eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 alpha (p-eIF2 alpha), which functions as a marker of endoplasmic reticulum stress, has been reported to be associated with patient prognosis in various cancers. However, little is known about the prognostic value of p-eIF2 alpha in breast cancer, particularly in different breast cancer subtypes. An immunohistochemistry screen for p-eIF2 alpha was performed using a tissue microarray containing 233 tumors and paired peritumoral tissues from female patients diagnosed with breast cancer. The staining results were scored semiquantitatively, and the p-eIF2 alpha expression level in breast cancer and its potential prognostic value were investigated. In this retrospective cohort study, we found that p-eIF2 alpha levels were significantly upregulated in breast cancer (P < 0.001). p-eIF2 alpha level was negatively correlated with lymph node status (P = 0.039). Survival analysis by KaplanMeier estimation and Cox regression showed that p-eIF2 alpha level was correlated with better disease free survival (P = 0.026) and served as an independent prognostic factor (P = 0.046) in patients with triple-negative breast cancer. Our study revealed that p-eIF2 alpha was upregulated in breast cancer and represented a novel predictor of prognosis in patients with triple-negative subtype.