Al-Alem U, Mahmoud AM, Batai K, Shah-Williams E, Gann PH, Kittles R, Rauscher GH. Genetic Variation and
Immunohistochemical Localization of the Glucocorticoid Receptor in Breast Cancer Cases from the Breast Cancer Care in Chicago Cohort.
Cancers (Basel) 2021;
13:2261. [PMID:
34068181 DOI:
10.3390/cancers13102261]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2021] [Revised: 04/27/2021] [Accepted: 05/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Glucocorticoid, one of the primary mediators of stress, acts via its receptor, the glucocorticoid receptor (GCR/NR3C1), to regulate a myriad of physiological processes. We measured the genetic variation and protein expression of GCR, and the genes that regulate GCR function or response and examined whether these alterations were associated with breast cancer clinicopathological characteristics.
METHOD
We used samples from a multiracial cohort of breast cancer patients to assess the association between breast cancer characteristics and the genetic variants of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in GCR/NR3C1, FKBP5, Sgk1, IL-6, ADIPOQ, LEPR, SOD2, CAT, and BCL2.
RESULTS
Several SNPs were associated with breast cancer characteristics, but statistical significance was lost after adjustment for multiple comparisons. GCR was detected in all normal breast tissues and was predominantly located in the nuclei of the myoepithelial cell layer, whereas the luminal layer was negative for GCR. GCR expression was significantly decreased in all breast cancer tissue types, compared to nontumor tissue, but was not associated with breast cancer characteristics. We found that high nuclear GCR expression was associated with basal cell marker cytokeratin 5/6 positivity.
CONCLUSION
GCR expression is reduced in breast cancer tissue and correlates with the basal cell marker CK5/6.
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