The A-kinase anchoring proteins correlation with disease free survival in breast cancer

Background: Researchers are always trying to find specific markers which express specifically in cancer. These specific markers help to diagnose and treat cancer without affecting normal tissues. Cancer-testis antigens are among the new promising biomarkers, especially for targeted therapy. These markers are specially expressed in testis. Various studies have been reported individual expression of these proteins in some tumor tissues. Since testis is an immune privilege organ, abnormal expression of the above mentioned genes raises immune response and the serum antibody against them (CT antigene) can be detected as a marker of cancer. However, understanding their differential role in normal and cancer tissues may introduce them as new candidates of cancer biomarkers. The aim of this study was to evaluate AKAP3 gene expression in breast cancer and its correlation with clinicopathologic features of the disease. Methods: This study is a case-control study conducted at the Brest Cancer Research Center (BCRC)- Iran, between October 2014 to May 2016. AKAP3 gene expression was investigated with real-time PCR in breast samples including: 74 tumors, 73 normal adjacents and 15 normal tissues. On the other hand the correlation between gene expression, clinicopathologic features of the tumors and treatment regimen were evaluated. Results: Statistical analysis showed a significant correlation between lack of AKAP3 expression, tumor size (P=0.01) and stage (P=0.04). The association between poor prognosis and the absence of AKAP3 expression in normal adjacent tissues were observed. Kaplan Meier plot showed a significant better disease free survival in the normal adjacent patients group that are expressed AKAP3. Conclusion: It was observed that the better free survival in the normal adjacent group is because of the different AKAP3 expression, not treatment variations between two patient groups. As a result, AKAP3 can be a suitable candidate biomarker for breast cancer patients. Also, the study of gene expression in normal tissue of patients may be used to predict response to therapy

Clinical significance of NDRG3 in patients with breast cancer

[Aim]: The expression level of NDRG3 gene is investigated among breast cancer (BC) patients.[Methods]: Real-time quantitative PCR was performed.[Results]: NDRG3 was downregulated in BC patients particularly in advanced stage of the disease. HER2 status was significantly correlated with the expression of NDRG3. Also, triple-negative BC patients showed low levels of NDRG3 expression in comparison to other subtypes. Lastly, the expression of NDRG3 had significant impact on survival, with NDRG3 downregulated patients having the worst event-free survival rate among others.[Conclusion]: We have presented that NDRG3 might be a tumor suppressor candidate. NDRG3 downregulation might be involved in the tumorigenesis and development of invasive BC in an advanced phase of the disease.Peer reviewe

Exosomes in Cancer Liquid Biopsy: A Focus on Breast Cancer

The important challenge about cancer is diagnosis in primary stages and proper treatment. Although classical clinico-pathological features of the tumor have major prognostic value, the advances in diagnosis and treatment are indebted to discovery of molecular biomarkers and control of cancer in the pre-invasive state. Moreover, the efficiency of available therapeutic options is highly diminished, and chemotherapy is still the main treatment due to lack of enough specific targets. Accordingly, finding the new noninvasive biomarkers for cancer is still an important clinical challenge that is not achieved yet. There are current technologies to screen, diagnose, prognose, and treat cancer, but the limitations of these implements and procedures are undeniable. Liquid biopsy as a noninvasive method has a promising future in the field of cancer, and exosomes as one of the recent areas have drawn much attention. In this review, the potential capability of exosomes is summarized in cancer with the special focus on breast cancer as the second cause of cancer mortality in women all around the world. It discusses reasons to choose exosomes for liquid biopsy and the studies related to different potential biomarkers found in the exosomes. Moreover, exosome studies on milk as a specific biofluid are also discussed. At last, because choosing the method for exosome studies is very challenging, a summary of different techniques is provided