Adenosine receptors in breast cancer.

Adenosine receptors are important in the normal physiological function of cells and the pathogenesis of various cancer cells, including breast cancer cells. The activity of adenosine receptors in cancer cells is related to cell proliferation, angiogenesis, metastasis, immune system evasion, and interference with apoptosis. Considering the different roles of adenosine receptors in cancer cells, we intend to investigate the function of adenosine receptors and their biological pathways in breast cancer to improve understanding of therapeutically relevant signaling pathways.

The evolving landscape of involvement of DTYMK enzymes in cancer.

Cancer cells require continuous synthesis of nucleotides for their uncontrolled proliferation. Deoxy thymidylate kinase (DTYMK) belongs to the thymidylate kinase family and is concerned with pyrimidine metabolism. DTYMK catalyzes the ATP-based conversion of deoxy-TMP to deoxy-TDP in both de novo and salvage pathways. Different studies demonstrated that DTYMK was increased in various types of cancers such as hepatocellular carcinoma, colon cancer, lung cancer, etc. Increased level of DTYMK was associated with poorer survival and prognosis, stage, grade and size of tumor, cell proliferation, colony formation, enhanced sensitivity to chemotherapy drugs, migration. Some studies were showed that knockdown of DTYMK reduced the signaling pathway of PI3K/AKT and downregulated expression of CART, MAPKAPK2, AKT1 and NRF1. Moreover, some microRNAs could suppress DTYMK expressions. On the other hand based on the TIMER database, the infiltration of macrophages, dendritic cells, neutrophils, B cells, CD4+ T cell and CD8+ T cell is affected by DTYMK. In the present review, we describe the genomic location, protein structure and isoforms of DTYMK and focus on its role in cancer development.

Circulating status of microRNAs 660-5p and 210-3p in breast cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRs), which are stable in the blood, comprise small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression. They have important roles in almost all biological pathways, especially in cancer-relevant processes, and have an abnormal expression in breast cancer. In recent studies, the aberrant expression level of various microRNAs has been demonstrated in human cancer. In the present study, the status of serum microRNA-210-3p and microRNA-660-5p expression levels in breast cancer patients was determined compared to healthy controls. METHODS: Serum samples were collected from 40 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients and 40 healthy controls. A real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was utilized to detect the expression levels of these microRNAs. Data analysis was conducted with p < 0.05 being considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The data obtained showed that serum levels of miR-660-5p and miR-210-3p were significantly up-regulated in breast cancer patients compared to healthy controls (p < 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively). In addition, significant up-regulation was observed in the early stage (in situ, stage I and II) of breast cancer patients (n = 25) compared to healthy (n = 40) controls (p < 0.001 and p < 0.05, respectively). Receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis indicated that the serum miR-660-5p and miR-210-3p levels have reasonable sensitivity (79% and 68%) and specificity (61% and 51%) for the detection of breast cancer patients (area under the receiver-operating curve = 0.774 and 0.716, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Although the results show a reasonable diagnostic accuracy of these microRNAs for detection of breast cancer in this small and preliminary study, further large-scale studies are essential to confirm the presented results.

Overexpression of serum MicroRNA-140-3p in premenopausal women with newly diagnosed breast cancer.

AIMS: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate microRNA-140-3p expression level in breast cancer patients in comparison to healthy controls. PATIENTS & METHODS: Serum microRNA-140-3p level was quantified by realtime quantitative reverse transcription PCR in 40 women with breast cancer and 40 healthy subjects. RESULTS: Serum microRNA-140-3p level in patients compared to healthy subjects was significantly up-regulated (P = 0.01). MicroRNA-140-3p had a good diagnostic accuracy for discrimination of the two groups (AUC = 0.667; sensitivity = 70%; specificity = 50%). Serum microRNA-140-3p level was overexpressed in premenopausal patients who were ≤48 years old. ROC curve showed a similar pattern again (AUC = 0.690; sensitivity = 73%; specificity = 50%). CONCLUSIONS: microRNA-140-3p has the potential for detection of breast cancer, especially in premenopausal and in ≤48 years old women.