Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease, that presents with different molecular subtypes that have different histological and clinical characteristics.
Cytokeratins are a family of intermediate filament proteins expressed in epithelial cells, and they play an essential role in maintaining cell structure and integrity. The analysis of different cytokeratin profiles can help distinguish different breast cancer subtypes and predict prognosis and response to treatment.
The most commonly used cytokeratins in breast cancer pathology are CK5, CK6, CK7, CK8, CK14 CK17,CK18 CK19 and CK20. Together they are expressed in more than 90% of breast tumors. Their different distributions are useful in characterizing breast cancer type.
Luminal breast cancer, the most common form is divided into two types. The luminal A type is regarded as a low-risk group that shows a good response to endocrine therapy compared to the luminal B type, which is generally of higher grade and has a higher proliferative rate. Luminal A breast cancer expresses CK8,18 and CK19, while luminal B breast cancer is more aggressive and has a worse prognosis. This form expresses CK5/6, CK14, and CK17. The luminal B type can switch to the basal subtype an aggressive cancer which also has high levels of the CK5, CK6 pair as well as CK 14 and CK17 along with the presence of CK20.
HUABIO has recombinant antibodies to all of the breast cancer markers listed above and can provide them in various amounts as needed. As recombinants they are guaranteed to be identical batch to batch.
