Department of Pathology, Balıkesir University School of Medicine, Cagıs Yerleskesi, Bigadic Yolu 17. Km Altıeylul, 10145, Balıkesir, Turkey.
Department of Medical Biology, Balıkesir University School of Medicine, Cagıs Yerleskesi, Bigadic Yolu 17. Km Altıeylul, 10145, Balıkesir, Turkey.
Breast Cancer. 2019 Jul;26(4):485-491. doi: 10.1007/s12282-019-00947-6. Epub 2019 Jan 24.
Upregulated gene 4 (URG4) is a recently described oncogene that upregulates cell proliferation. Its overexpression has been identified in many malignancies, and it is thought to be related to tumour progression, angiogenesis, metastasis and the recurrence of many cancers. This is the first study to show its expression in breast cancer patients and its association with clinicopathological characteristics in these patients.
Fifty invasive ductal breast carcinoma cases and 25 control cases were included in the study. Tumourous tissues and control tissues were assessed molecularly for quantification of mRNA expression of URG4 and immunohistochemically for protein expression of URG4.
The mean ages of the patients and controls were 54.3 ± 11.3 and 38.9 ± 9.7 years, respectively. The expression levels of URG4 mRNA in tumour tissues were higher compared to control breast tissues (p = 0.023). An immunohistochemical assessment suggested that URG4 is strongly expressed in normal breast tissues and lower-grade (grades I and II) ductal carcinomas of the breast, but it is weakly expressed in high-grade (grade III) ductal breast carcinomas. Additionally, the immunohistochemical and molecular expression results of URG4 were relevant to most prognostic parameters (tumour size, oestrogen and progesterone receptor status, HER2 status and Ki67 proliferative index) for breast cancer. However, unlike the immunohistochemical studies, the molecular studies revealed that there was no significant difference in URG4 expression for different grades of tumour tissues.
The literature data suggest that URG4 overexpression is associated with poor prognosis in many types of cancer. Conversely, our results in breast cancer specimens indicate that URG4 overexpression in breast ductal carcinomas is significantly associated with good prognostic parameters. Nevertheless, these preliminary findings should be confirmed by further studies.
上调基因 4 (URG4) 是一种新描述的癌基因，可上调细胞增殖。其过表达已在许多恶性肿瘤中被发现，它被认为与肿瘤进展、血管生成、转移和许多癌症的复发有关。这是第一项显示其在乳腺癌患者中的表达及其与这些患者临床病理特征相关性的研究。
本研究纳入了 50 例浸润性导管乳腺癌病例和 25 例对照病例。对肿瘤组织进行了分子学评估，以定量检测 URG4 的 mRNA 表达，并用免疫组织化学方法检测 URG4 的蛋白表达。
患者和对照组的平均年龄分别为 54.3±11.3 岁和 38.9±9.7 岁。肿瘤组织中 URG4 mRNA 的表达水平高于对照乳腺组织（p=0.023）。免疫组织化学评估表明，URG4 在正常乳腺组织和低级别（I 级和 II 级）乳腺导管癌中表达较强，但在高级别（III 级）乳腺导管癌中表达较弱。此外，URG4 的免疫组织化学和分子表达结果与乳腺癌的大多数预后参数（肿瘤大小、雌激素和孕激素受体状态、HER2 状态和 Ki67 增殖指数）相关。然而，与免疫组织化学研究不同，分子研究表明，不同分级的肿瘤组织中 URG4 的表达没有显著差异。
文献数据表明，URG4 的过表达与许多类型癌症的不良预后相关。相反，我们在乳腺癌标本中的结果表明，乳腺导管癌中 URG4 的过表达与良好的预后参数显著相关。然而，这些初步发现需要进一步的研究来证实。
