ABSTRACT
Objective: During the past decade, the importance of biomarker discovery has been highlighted in many aspects of cancer research. Biomarkers may have a role in early detection of cancer, prognosis and survival evaluation as well as drug response. Cancer-testis antigens [CTAs] have gained attention as cancer biomarkers because of their expression in a wide variety of tumors and restricted expression in testis. The aim of this study was to find putative biomarkers for breast cancer
Materials and Methods: In this applied-descriptive study, the expression of 4 CTAs, namely acrosin binding protein [ACRBP], outer dense fiber 4 [ODF4], Rhox homeobox family member 2 [RHOXF2] and spermatogenesis associated 19 [SPATA19] were analyzed at the transcript level in two breast cancer lines [MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231], 40 invasive ductal carcinoma samples and their adjacent normal tissues as well as 10 fibroadenoma samples by means of quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction [RT-PCR]
Results: All four genes were expressed in both cell lines. Expression of ODF4 and RHOXF2 was detected in 62.5% and 60% of breast cancer tissues but in 22.5 and 17.5% of normal tissues examined respectively. The expression of both RHOXF2 and ODF4 was upregulated in cancerous tissues compared with their normal adjacent tissues by 3.31- and 2.96-fold respectively. The expression of both genes was correlated with HER2/neu overexpression. RHOXF2 expression but not ODF4 was correlated with higher stages of tumors. However, no significant association was seen between expression patterns and estrogen and progesterone receptors status
Conclusion: ODF4 and RHOXF2 are proposed as putative breast cancer biomarkers at the transcript level. However, their expression at protein level should be evaluated in future studies