To explore the prognosis molecular markers in serum of patients with breast neoplasms.

126 patients diagnosed as breast cancer from June 2013 to February 2015 were enrolled and were followed up for 5 years after the operation. The proteomics reverse phase protein array (RPPA) technology was used to screen the biomarkers associated with the prognosis of the patients. Statistical analysis were performed by using SPSS 22.0 software. The correlation of the candidate proteins and the clinical data were analyzed by using Pearson correlation analysis; Univariate Cox analyses were used to evaluate the proteins that affect the prognosis of patients, then multivariate Cox analyses were used to analyze the correlation of the candidate proteins, clinical data and the prognosis of the patients, to obtain the independent risk factors affecting the prognosis of the patients. A P value of <0.05 was considered as statistically significant difference.

37 serum proteins were detected by RPPA , univariate Cox analyses showed that the high expression of serine hydroxymethyl transferase 2(SHMT2) and alanine-serine-cysteine transporter 2 (ASCT2) were significantly associated with the 5 years recurrence-free survival and overall survival. The high expression of SHMT2 and ASCT2 had a significant positive correlation with the tumor size, TNM stage, pathological grade, estrogen receptor (ER+ ) and progesterone receptor (PR+ ). Multivariate Cox analyses showed that the high expression of SHMT2 and ASCT2 were also independent risk factors affecting the prognosis of patients.

High levels of ASCT2 and SHMT2 expression are related to the poor prognosis of breast neoplasms, which might be the potential therapeutic targets for breast cancer.