Mohammadi Ramtin, Ghiasi Mohsen, Mehdizadeh Saber, Mohammadi Javad, Mohammad Ganji Shahla
Department of Molecular Medicine, Medical Biotechnology Institute, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB), Tehran, 1497716316, Iran.
Medical Biotechnology and Bioinformatics Research Group (MBBRG), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, 14197331, Iran.
Bioinform Adv. 2025 Feb 21;5(1):vbaf030. doi: 10.1093/bioadv/vbaf030. eCollection 2025.
Breast cancer (BC), with its rising prevalence and mortality rate, is one of the most significant human health issues. The family of transmembrane tyrosine kinases that promote neuronal growth includes the neurotrophic tyrosine kinase receptors (NTRKs). NTRK1-3 genes encode the members of this family. Alterations of NTRK genes can induce carcinogenesis both in neurogenic and non-neurogenic cells. The prevalence of NTRK gene fusion is under 1% in solid tumours but is highly encountered in rare tumours. Since the prognostic values of NTRK families' expression in various types of cancer are becoming increasingly evident, we aimed to conduct a comprehensive bioinformatics study evaluating the prognostic significance of the NTRK family in BC. Online bioinformatic databases including TCGA, UALCAN, Kaplan-Meier plotter, bc-GenExMiner, cBioPortal, STRING, Enrichr, and TIMER were utilized for analysis.
High levels of NTRK2 and 3 demonstrated better associations with overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) in BC patients ( < .05), while high levels of NTRK1 showed an applicable correlation with RFS in BC patients ( < .001). Our findings provide a new outlook that might aid in the field of personalized medicine and therapeutic use of NTRK as a prognostic biomarker in BC.
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.
乳腺癌（BC）的患病率和死亡率不断上升，是最严重的人类健康问题之一。促进神经元生长的跨膜酪氨酸激酶家族包括神经营养酪氨酸激酶受体（NTRK）。NTRK1 - 3基因编码该家族成员。NTRK基因的改变可在神经源性和非神经源性细胞中诱导致癌作用。NTRK基因融合在实体瘤中的患病率低于1%，但在罕见肿瘤中很常见。由于NTRK家族在各种癌症类型中的表达的预后价值越来越明显，我们旨在进行一项全面的生物信息学研究，评估NTRK家族在BC中的预后意义。使用包括TCGA、UALCAN、Kaplan - Meier plotter、bc - GenExMiner、cBioPortal、STRING、Enrichr和TIMER在内的在线生物信息数据库进行分析。
高水平的NTRK2和3与BC患者的总生存期（OS）和无复发生存期（RFS）表现出更好的相关性（<0.05），而高水平的NTRK1与BC患者的RFS表现出显著相关性（<0.001）。我们的研究结果提供了一个新的视角，可能有助于个性化医疗领域以及将NTRK作为BC预后生物标志物的治疗应用。
本研究期间生成或分析的所有数据都包含在这篇发表的文章中。
