Document Type : Original Article(s)

Authors

1 Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

2 Shiraz Institute for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

3 Department of General Surgery, Lymphedema Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

4 Breast Diseases Research Cancer, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

10.30476/mejc.2024.100701.1997

Abstract

Background: The targeted therapy using breast cancer (BC)-associated biomarkers has significantly minimized the side effects of BC treatment. This study aims to elucidate the role of Nectin2, NUF2, and Nectin4 gene expression in the pathogenesis of BC.
Method: In this case-control study, the expression of Nectin2, Nectin4, and NUF2 genes was investigated through real-time polymerase chain reaction assay in 46 tumor tissues from BC patients and 46 adjacent non-tumorous tissues as a control group. Data were analyzed using SPSS-21 software, employing independent t-tests and one-way ANOVA. A P-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: The results demonstrated a significant increase in the expression of the NUF2 gene in tumor tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues (P = 0.005, fold change = 3.7). No statistically significant difference was observed in the expression of Nectin2 and Nectin4 between the tumor and adjacent tissues. However, higher expression of Nectin2 was noted in the early stages of the disease, particularly in subtypes with estrogen receptor-positive (ER+), progesterone receptor positive (PR+), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative (HER2-). Furthermore, the expression of NUF2 and Nectin4 was elevated in advanced stages and triple-negative BC (TNBC) subtypes. Notably, the expression of these three genes was higher in patients aged ≤ 45 years.
Conclusion: The findings suggest that the expression levels of NUF2, Nectin2, and Nectin4 genes may influence the initiation, progression, and pathogenesis of BC subtypes.

Highlights

Zahra Roshanizadeh (PubMed)

Abbas Ghaderi (Google Scholar)

Keywords

Main Subjects

This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination, and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: 10.30476/mejc.2024.100701.1997

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