Genes up- and down-regulated by dermcidin in breast cancer: a microarray analysis

Genet Mol Res. 2008 Sep 30;7(3):925-32. doi: 10.4238/vol7-3x-meeting009.

Abstract

Dermcidin (DCD) is a human gene mapped to chromosome 12q13 region, which is co-amplified with multiple oncogenes with a well-established role in the growth, survival and progression of breast cancers. Here, we present a summary of a DNA microarray-based study that identified the genes that are up- and down-regulated in a human MDA-361 pLKO control clone and three clones expressing short hairpin RNA against three different regions of DCD mRNA. A list of 235 genes was differentially expressed among independent clones (> 3-fold change and p < 0.005). The gene expression of 208 was reduced and of 27 was increased in the three DCD-RNAi clones compared to pLKO control clone. The expression of 77 genes (37%) encoding for enzymes involved in amino acid metabolism, glucose metabolism and oxidoreductase activity and several genes required for cell survival and DNA repair were decreased. The expression of EGFR/ErbB-1 gene, an important predictor of outcome in breast cancer, was reduced together with the genes for betacellulin and amphiregulin, two known ligands of EGFR/ErbB receptors. Many of the 27 genes up-regulated by DCD-RNAi expression have not yet been fully characterized; among those with known function, we identified the calcium-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase-II delta and calcineurin A alpha. We compared 132 up-regulated and 12 down-regulated genes in our dataset with those genes up- and down-regulated by inhibitors targeting various signaling pathway components. The analysis showed that the genes in the DCD pathway are aligned with those functionally influenced by the drugs sirolimus, LY-294002 and wortmannin. Therefore, DCD may exert its function by activating the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. Together, these bioinformatic approaches suggest the involvement of DCD in the regulation of genes for breast cancer cell metabolism, proliferation and survival.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Breast Neoplasms / genetics
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Profiling*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
  • Humans
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / methods*
  • Peptides / genetics
  • Peptides / physiology*
  • RNA Interference

Substances

  • Peptides
  • dermcidin