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Background: Breast tumor is a common cancer in women all over the world. Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) provides a significant and new perspective on understanding biomarkers as well as on the potential prognostic regulation of breast cancer. Its transcription, in turn, serves as a regulator in diagnosing breast cancer and preventing risk of recurrence. Here, we review the evolution of lncRNAs and discuss their regulative roles in the metastasis of breast cancer. Moreover, we aim to detect the expression level of lncRNA HOTAIR in different stages of breast cancer., Methods: Sixty patients with breast cancer at different stages were divided into four groups based on different stages. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect the expression level of lncRNA HOTAIR in breast tumor tissue., Results: Compared to stage I breast cancer, the expression profiles of lncRNA HOTAIR in stage II, III, IV breast cancer are significantly elevated (p < 0.05). The expression profiles of lncRNA HOTAIR in stage III and IV breast cancer are significantly increased compared with stage II breast cancer., Conclusions: Consistent with microRNAs (miRNA), lncRNAs could function as underlying effective biomarkers to affect the biogenesis and gene control across all lifetime. The interaction between lncRNA and miRNA plays a crucial role in the metastasis of breast cancer and provides a potential biomarker target for breast cancer metastasis therapy. Our study has also demonstrated that the expression profiles of lncRNA HOTAIR in stage II, III, IV breast cancer are significantly elevated.

Purpose: The function of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNA) in breast cancer metastasis remains largely unknown. In this work, the role of HOXC-AS3 in breast cancer progression was investigated. Methods: By using Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Database, we investigated the expression of HOXC-AS3 in breast cancer and explored the association between HOXC-AS3 expression and prognosis. Then, we studied the biological function of HOXC-AS3 in cell migration and invasion both in vitro and in vivo . Furthermore, the target miRNA of HOXC-AS3, and the target mRNA of miR-3922-5p were proved. Results: HOXC-AS3 is aberrantly overexpressed in breast cancers especially the HER2 + type. Moreover, high expression of HOXC-AS3 has a relationship with poor clinical outcomes of breast cancer. In addition, HOXC-AS3 regulates cell Invasion and migration both in vitro and in vivo . Our results demonstrated that miR-3922-5p was a direct target of HOXC-AS3, and PPP1R1A was a target of miR-3922-5p in breast cancer. Conclusions: The novel lncRNA HOXC-AS3 acts as a miR-3922-5p sponge to upregulate PPP1R1A protein expression, and thus results in promoting breast cancer metastasis. HOXC-AS3 could be a novel therapeutic target for breast cancer therapeutics.

Background: The current randomized, controlled, multicenter clinical trial was conducted to investigate the efficacy of concurrent neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) and estrogen deprivation in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative breast cancer., Methods: Eligible patients with AJCC stage IIB to stage IIIC, ER-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive NCT with or without estrogen deprivation. The primary endpoint was the objective response rate (ORR)., Results: A total of 249 patients were assigned to either neoadjuvant chemoendocrine therapy (NCET) (125 patients) or the NCT group (124 patients). In the intention-to-treat analysis, the ORR was found to be significantly higher in the NCET group compared with the NCT group (84.8% vs 72.6%; odds ratio, 2.11 [95% CI, 1.13-3.95; P = .02). The efficacy of NCET was more prominent in tumors with a higher Ki-67 index (>20%), with an ORR of 91.2% reported in the NCET group versus 68.7% in the NCT group (P = .001). The pathologic complete response and pathological response rates did not differ significantly between the 2 groups. Although there was no significant difference with regard to progression-free survival (PFS) between the 2 groups (P = .188), patients with a higher baseline Ki-67 index appeared to derive a greater PFS benefit from NCET (2-year PFS rate of 91.5% in the NCET group vs 76.5% in the NCT group; P = .058). Adding endocrine agents to NCT did not result in significant differences in adverse events (grade 3 or 4; graded according to National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events [version 3.0]) between the 2 groups., Conclusions: The addition of estrogen deprivation to NCT appears to improve the clinical response in patients with ER-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, especially for those individuals with a higher Ki-67 index. Patients with a higher Ki-67 index might derive more PFS benefit from concurrent neoadjuvant treatment., (© 2019 American Cancer Society.)

To characterize the prevalence of BRCA mutations and characteristics of BRCA carriers in China and to update the clinical recommendations for BRCA testing, we conducted a wide screen for BRCA mutations using next-generation sequencing (NGS). A total of 4,034 Chinese subjects were screened for germline BRCA1/2 mutations, including 2,991 breast cancer patients and 1,043 healthy individuals from the community enrolled as controls. We developed an NGS-based approach to perform BRCA1/2 screening. BRCA mutations were identified in 9.1% (232/2,560) of cases with at least one risk factor, in 3.5% (15/431) of sporadic patients and in 0.38% (4/1,043) of healthy controls. The mutation frequency ranged from 8.9 to 15.2% in cohorts with a single risk factor to 16.6-100% in groups with multiple risk factors. We identified 70 novel BRCA mutations. A high frequency of BRCA1 c.5470&#95;5477del was detected, accounting for 13.9% (16/115) of the BRCA1 mutations detected in our study. Clinical characteristics such as family history, invasive carcinoma, negative human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), high Ki67 index, lymph node status, and high tumour grade were closely related to BRCA mutations. BRCA2 carriers had poorer disease-free survival among HER2- or hormone receptor-positive patients (hazard ratio = 1.892; 95% confidence interval: 1.132-3.161; p = 0.013). This study shows that BRCA mutation carriers could be frequently identified among breast cancer patients with multiple risk factors. Importantly, we established an NGS-based pipeline for BRCA1/2 testing in clinical practice and strongly suggest that breast cancer patients of premier- and moderate-grade risks receive BRCA1/2 mutations testing in China., (© 2017 UICC.)

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a ligand activated transcription factor implicated in multiple cellular processes and its expression has been shown to play a critical role in tumorigenesis. However, the role of AhR in tumorigenesis of breast cancer remains unclear. In the current study, we investigated the expression levels of AhR in breast lesions and assessing the correlation between AhR expression and clinicopathological variables using breast cancer tissue microarray. Meanwhile, 10 paired of fresh breast cancer and corresponding non-cancer samples were detected for AhR and p53 expression by Western blot, respectively. Results showed that AhR expression levels in breast cancer tissues were significantly higher than that in the non-cancer tissues. AhR expression was associated with the pathological type and P53 status, but not patients age, tumor grade and TNM, as well as ER, PR, C-erbB2, Ki-67, AR, EGFR status. Moreover, Western blot data suggested a negative correlation between p53 protein and AhR protein expression levels. The results suggest that high levels of AhR were expressed in the majority of breast cancer tissues and closely associated with P53 status and histological types of breast cancer. AHR and its abnormal expression may play an important role in multiple stages of breast cancer progression.

Objective: To explore the effects of hsa-miR-206 on the proliferation, migration and invasion of breast cancer., Methods: The hsa-miR-206 mimics, inhibitors and their paired negative controls were transfected into human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 by liposome. The proliferation of cell was evaluated by CCK-8 and the migration and invasion was detected by Transwell. Matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2), matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9), breast cancer metastasis-suppressor 1 (BRMS-1) and connexin 43 (Cx43) were detected by both quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and Western blot. The expression of miR-206 was detected by qPCR. Dual luciferase assay was detected to confirm the specific binding sites of miR-206 and Cx43., Results: (1) The proliferation activity of 206m-group cell (0.74 ± 0.16) was significantly lower than that of control group (1.12 ± 0.23) (t = -3.066, P = 0.037) while that of 206i-group cell (1.43 ± 0.26) was higher than that of control group (0.98 ± 0.14) (t = 3.635, P = 0.022). (2) Transwell tests showed the migration and invasion of 206m-group cell decreased significantly (migration:0.56 ± 0.01 vs 0.63 ± 0.01, t = -23.00, P = 0.002; invasion:0.79 ± 0.01 vs 0.99 ± 0.01, t = -21.200, P = 0.002), but that of 206i-group cell increased significantly (migration:0.97 ± 0.11 vs 0.61 ± 0.09, t = 32.787, P = 0.001; invasion:1.10 ± 0.01 vs 0.93 ± 0.05, t = 5.167, P = 0.035). (3) The expressions of MMP-2,MMP-9 and Cx43 decreased and the expression of BRMS-1 increased in 206m-group cell and vice versa in 206i group. (4) The expression of miR-206 in lymph node-negative group of clinical breast cancer sample was higher than that of lymph node-positive one. And there was statistical difference (Z = -2.098, P = 0.003). And the expression of Cx43 was opposite. (5) Dual luciferase reporter assay confirmed the specific binding sites of hsa-miR-206 and Cx43., Conclusion: Hsa-miR-206 has negative controls of proliferation, migration and invasion of breast cancer cell by targeting Cx43.

Aim: To study the effects of suberoyl bis-hydroxamic acid (SBHA), an inhibitor of histone deacetylases, on the apoptosis of MCF-7 breast cancer cells., Methods: Apoptosis in MCF-7 cells induced by SBHA was demonstrated by flow cytometric analysis, morphological observation, and DNA ladder. Mitochondrial membrane potential (DeltaPsim) was measured using the fluorescent probe JC-1. The expressions of p53, p21, Bax, and PUMA were determined using RT-PCR or Western blotting analysis after the MCF-7 cells were treated with SBHA or p53 siRNA., Results: SBHA induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells. The expressions of p53, p21, Bax, and PUMA were induced, and DeltaPsim collapsed after treatment with SBHA. p53 siRNA abrogated the SBHA-induced apoptosis and the expressions of p53, p21, Bax, and PUMA., Conclusion: The activation of the p53 pathway is involved in SBHA-induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells.

LKB1 (also known as STK11) is a recently identified tumor suppressor gene whose mutation can lead to Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, which is characterized by gastrointestinal polyps and cancers of different organ systems. Approximately 30% of sporadic breast cancer samples express low levels of LKB1. This suggests that the LKB1 gene may be related to the tumorigenesis of breast cancer. We reintroduced LKB1 into MDA-MB-435 breast cancer cells that lack the LKB1 gene to investigate how overexpression of LKB1 affects tumor invasiveness and metastasis. Overexpression of the LKB1 protein in breast cancer cells resulted in significant inhibition of in vitro invasion. In vivo, LKB1 expression reduced tumor growth in the mammary fat pad, microvessel density, and lung metastasis. LKB1 overexpression was associated with down-regulation of matrix metalloproteinase-2, matrix metalloproteinase-9, vascular endothelial growth factor, and basic fibroblast growth factor mRNA and protein levels. Overexpression of the LKB1 protein in human breast cancer is significantly associated with a decrease in microvessel density. Our results indicate that LKB1 plays a negative regulatory role in human breast cancer, a finding that may lead to a new therapeutic strategy.