Objective  To observe the expression of mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor (c-Met) and fatty acid synthase(FASN) in patients with triple-negative breast cancer, and their impacts on prognosis.

  Methods  Immunohistochemical staining (SP) method was used to detect the expression levels of c-Met and FASN protein in 218 cases of triple-negative breast cancer tissues and adjacent tissues, and the relationships between positive expression of c-Met, FASN and clinicopathological characteristics as well as their impacts on prognosis.

  Results  Among 218 patients, 130 cases (59.6%) had positive c-Met expression, and 142 cases (65.1%) had FASN positive expression, which were significantly higher than those of the adjacent tissues, and the positive expression levels of c-Met and FASN were correlated with axillary lymph node metastasis, TNM staging and histological grading (P < 0.05). However, they were not correlated with tumor diameter (P>0.05). Positive expression of FASN was also related to diabetes and body mass index. Survival analysis showed that the five-year tumor-free survival of triple negative breast cancer patients with positive expression of c-Met and FASN protein was significantly shorter than those of negative expression ones (P < 0.05).

  Conclusion  The positive expression of c-Met and FASN is involved in the invasion, development, recurrence and metastasis of triple-negative breast cancer, and can be used as one of the biological indicators to judge the poor prognosis of triple-negative breast cancer.