Affiliations: [a] Department of Clinical Genetic, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Tehran, Iran | [b] Iran University of Medical Science, RasoleAkram Hospital, Tehran, Iran | [c] Department of Surgery, Milad Hospital, Tehran, Iran
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Frouzandeh Mahjoubi, Department of Clinical Genetic, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Tehran, Iran. E-mail:[email protected]
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Fibulin-4 (FBLN-4) is an extracellular glycoprotein that
is upregulated in some cancer and is khown as prognostic marker in ovarian
and cervical cancer. Breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) is an ATP-binding
cassette transporter that facilitates the efflux of various anticancer drugs
from the cell and cause MDR phenotype in breast tumors. Many studies are
available that indicat overexpression of BCRP gene in breast
cancer. OBJECTIVE: In the present study we aimed to analyze the
expression level of FBLN-4 and BCRP in Iranian breast cancer
patients. METHODS: We collected 40 samples of breast cancer and
normal tissue from Tehran Khatam-al-Anbia hospital. To analyze the gene
expression by using Real Time RT-PCR FBLN-4 and BCRP gene expression level were measured
and then the association of gene expression with breast cancer were
determined. RESULTS: Surprisingly the expression level of
FBLN-4 and BCRP genes were downregulated in tumor tissues compared to adjacent normal
tissues. Comparison of the gene expression and clinico-pathology reports
indicate FBLN-4 gene expression was associated with breast cancer histological
grade. We found no correlation between the expressions of BCRP gene with any
clinico-pathological characters. CONCLUSION: Interestingly and in
contrast with our expectation, we found that the expression level of
FBLN-4 and BCRP were downregulated in tumor compared to adjacent normal tissues.
FBLN-4 was associated with grade histology and therefore can be considered as a
potential prognostic biomarker.
Keywords: Fibulin-4, BCRP, breast cancer, prognostic marker
