Understanding the role of keratins 8 and 18 in neoplastic potential of breast cancer derived cell lines.

Background: Breast cancer is a complex disease which cannot be defined merely by clinical parameters like lymph node involvement and histological grade, or by routinely used biomarkers like estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PGR) and epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) in diagnosis and prognosis. Breast cancer originates from the epithelial cells. Keratins (K) are cytoplasmic intermediate filament proteins of epithelial cells and changes in the expression pattern of keratins have been seen during malignant transformation in the breast.