Apolipoprotein A-1 downregulation promotes basal-like breast cancer cell proliferation and migration associated with DNA methylation

Cong Wang; Shiliang Chen; Ranran Zhang; Mengqing Chen; Xiaoxiao Yang; Yibo He; Zuifei Shangguan; Qifen Mao; Zhezhong Zhang; Sunke Ying

doi:10.3892/ol.2024.14428

Apolipoprotein A-1 downregulation promotes basal-like breast cancer cell proliferation and migration associated with DNA methylation

Oncol Lett. 2024 May 1;28(1):295. doi: 10.3892/ol.2024.14428. eCollection 2024 Jul.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine), Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310006, P.R. China.
² Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, P.R. China.
³ Department of Clinical Laboratory, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310012, P.R. China.
⁴ Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First People's Hospital of Yongkang, Jinhua, Zhejiang 321300, P.R. China.

Abstract

Apolipoprotein A-I (APOA1) performs different roles in different subtypes of breast cancer. It is hypothesized to function as a tumor suppressor in basal-like breast cancer (BLBC). However, the specific role of APOA1 in BLBC and its underlying mechanisms remain unknown. The findings of the present study demonstrated a positive correlation between the expression level of APOA1 and the overall survival of patients with BLBC. Ectopic expression of APOA1 effectively inhibits the proliferation and metastasis of BLBC cells in vitro, and these effects are closely related to DNA methylation. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to report increased methylation of the promoter region and decreased methylation of the structural genes of APOA1 in BLBC cells. These alterations resulted in the downregulation of APOA1 expression and suppression of BLBC tumor growth. Collectively, the results of the present study suggested that APOA1 mRNA expression is negatively regulated by DNA methylation in BLBC. Therefore, low expression of APOA1 may be a potential risk biomarker to predict survival in patients with BLBC.

Keywords: DNA methylation; apolipoprotein A-I; basal-like breast cancer; migration; proliferation.

Grants and funding

The present study was supported by the Zhejiang Province Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Project (grant nos. 2023ZL056, 2023ZL409 and 2024ZR015); the Research Project of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (grant nos. 2022JKZKTS26, 2022JKJNTZ16, 2022JKJNTZ23, 2022JKJNTZ29 and 2023JKJNTZ10) and Zhejiang Medical and Health Technology Project (grant nos. 2024KY1225, 2024KY1213, 2024KY1201, 2020KY197 and 2019KY344).