Evaluation of the Gene Encoding Carnitine Transporter (Octn2/Slc22a5) Expression in Human Breast Cancer and Its Association With Clinicopathological Characteristics Publisher Pubmed

Summary: Study finds higher OCTN2 expression in breast cancer may signal worse outcomes, suggesting a new target for treatment. #BreastCancer #CancerResearch

Dinarvand N^{1, 6} ; Karimi F² ; Azizi R³ ; Rastaghi S⁴ ; Sheikhi A⁵ ; Pourfarzam M⁶
Source: Molecular Biology Reports Published:2023

Abstract

Background: Fatty acid oxidation (FAO) is a major energy-generating process in the mitochondria and supports proliferation, growth, and survival of cancer cells. l-Carnitine is an essential co-factor for carrying long-chain fatty acids into the mitochondria. The entry of l-carnitine across cell membrane is regulated by OCTN2 (SLC22A5). Thus, it can plays a significant role in the mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation. This study aimed to evaluate the OCTN2 expression and its association with clinicopathological characteristics in breast cancer. Methods: In this work, OCTN2 was examined in 54 pairs of fresh samples of breast cancer (BC) and adjacent noncancerous tissue using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry (IHC). The IHC approach was also used to investigate the expression of additional clinicopathological features. Results: The present research findings revealed that the relative expression of OCTN2 in BC tissues was substantially higher than the adjacent normal tissues. This up-regulation was correlated positively with tumor size and Ki-67 and negatively with the progesterone receptor (PR) status, providing evidence of the opposite effects of OCTN2 and PR on tumor development. Conclusion: The study shows that the OCTN2 expression in BC patients may be used as a prognostic biomarker and a tumor oncogene. As a result, it could be considered a possible therapeutic target. Nevertheless, the significance of the findings needs to be confirmed by further studies. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.