Abstract
Purpose
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are regulatory molecules capable of positively or negatively regulating signaling pathways, and are involved in tumorigenesis as well as various aspects of cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression levels of miR-133a, miR-637, and miR-944 in serum and tumor tissues as well as their relationship with the expression level of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) and protein kinase-B (AKT) genes and proteins along with their clinical significance in breast cancer.
Methods
The expressions of miR-133a, miR-637, miR-944, PI3K, and AKT genes were examined in the tumor and tumor margin tissues of 40 patients with breast cancer, as well as the serum levels of miR-133a, miR-637, and miR-944 in these patients and 40 healthy groups by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). PI3K and AKT proteins expression in tumor and tumor margin tissues were detected using immunohistochemistry (IHC).
Results
The expression levels of miR-133a and miR-637 in the tumor tissue and serum of patients were lower than those in the tumor margin tissue and serum of the healthy group, respectively. In addition, the expression level of miR-944 in the tumor tissue was lower than that in the tumor margin tissue, but its expression increased in the serum of cancer patients compared to that in the healthy group. The expression of miR-637 was correlated with tumor location and Her2 receptors, and the expression of miR-944 was correlated with tumor location and family history. PI3K and AKT mRNA and protein levels were higher in the tumor tissues than in the tumor margin tissues (p < 0.05).
Conclusion
The results of our study revealed that miR-637 has a better diagnostic value in breast cancer than miR-133a and miR-944.
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Data availability
Data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The current research is derived from the PhD thesis (project 140002281458) which was approved and financed by Hamedan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan.
Funding
This project was supported by the Deputy of Research and Technology of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences (No 140002281458).
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ZB did all experiments and wrote the manuscript, NM, confirming patients and giving samples, RA analyzed and interpreted the data, SAM-N revised the manuscript and NZ generated and developed the study hypothesis, design and completed the final version of the manuscript.
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Barartabar, Z., Moini, N., Abbasalipourkabir, R. et al. Investigation of miR-133a, miR-637 and miR-944 genes expression and their relationship with PI3K/AKT signaling in women with breast cancer. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 149, 6115–6129 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-023-04583-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-023-04583-8