Huang Teng, Shan Rong, Zhang Min, Li Ling, Huang Juan, Liu Baoan, Zhou Weibing
Department of Oncology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410008, P.R.China.
Center for Molecular Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410008, P.R.China.
Sheng Wu Yi Xue Gong Cheng Xue Za Zhi. 2021 Dec 25;38(6):1118-1125. doi: 10.7507/1001-5515.202105008.
Oncogene StarD4 had the function of promoting proliferation and metastasis of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), but its clinical value and molecular mechanism are unknown. This paper found that StarD4 was highly expressed in cancer tissues of TNBC patients, and higher expression level of StarD4 in TNBC patient resulted in poorer prognosis. Based on transcriptomics of MDA-MB-231 cell model, the results of bioinformatics analysis showed that down-regulated expression level of StarD4 led to overall downregulation of cholesterol-relative genes and significant enrichment of cancer mechanism and pathway. Further analysis and investigation verified that StarD4 might cross-promote the protein stability of receptor ITGA5 through the cholesterol pathway to enhance TNBC progression, which provides guidance for clinical application of TNBC diagnosis and treatment.
癌基因StarD4具有促进三阴性乳腺癌（TNBC）增殖和转移的功能，但其临床价值和分子机制尚不清楚。本文发现，StarD4在TNBC患者的癌组织中高表达，TNBC患者中StarD4表达水平越高，预后越差。基于MDA-MB-231细胞模型的转录组学，生物信息学分析结果表明，StarD4表达水平下调导致胆固醇相关基因整体下调，癌症机制和通路显著富集。进一步分析和研究证实，StarD4可能通过胆固醇途径交叉促进受体ITGA5的蛋白质稳定性，从而增强TNBC进展，为TNBC诊断和治疗的临床应用提供指导。
