Investigation of Expression and Methylation Status of ELF5 Gene Promoter in Patients with Breast Cancer

Abstract

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among Iranian women. ELF5 gene as a transcription factor member of the ETS family could play a key role in breast cancer neoplasms, especially basal-like and endocrine-resistant subtypes. The changes in the gene promoter methylation pattern are considered proper targets in the therapeutic strategies. This study aimed to investigate the frequency of this epigenetic phenomenon and ELF5 gene expression as well as their association with pathologic and clinical characteristics of Iranian patients suffering from this cancer. Materials & Methods: In order to investigate the ELF5 promoter methylation, 134 breast tissues were analyzed using methylation-specific PCR method. Moreover, 164 tumoral and 10 normal breast tissues retrieved from breast reduction surgery were assessed using Real-Time RT-PCR to analyze the gene expression. Ethics code: 52d/4922, 6.10.2016 Findings: The data revealed that about 70% of the breast cancer tumoral specimens showed ELF5 promoter methylated pattern. Furthermore, the down-regulation of ELF5 gene expression was significantly associated with higher cancer stages, being triple-negative, and invasion. Discussions & Conclusions: The results revealed that an increase in the ELF5 promoter methylation frequency in patients, compared to the control tissues, and its association with poor prognosis indicators may propose the ELF5 promoter methylation as a possible candidate in further studies to confirm the poor prognostic role of this biomarker in breast cancer.

Keywords

• breast neoplasms
• elf5
• epigenetics
• gene expression
• methylation