Background: Overweight and obesity are recognized as major drivers of cancers including breast cancer. Several cytokines, including interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-10 and lipocalin 2 (LCN2), as well as dysregulated cell cycle proteins are implicated in breast carcinogenesis. The nuclear, casein kinase and cyclin-dependent kinase substrate-1 (NUCKS-1), is a nuclear DNA-binding protein that has been implicated in several human cancers, including breast cancer.
Objectives: The present study was conducted to evaluate NUCKS-1 mRNA expression in breast tissue from obese patients with and without breast cancer and lean controls. NUCKS-1 expression was correlated to cytokine profiles as prognostic and monitoring tools for breast cancer, providing a molecular basis for a causal link between obesity and risk.
Materials and methods: This study included 39 females with breast cancer (G III) that was furtherly subdivided into two subgroups according to cancer grading (G IIIa and G IIIb) and 10 control obese females (G II) in addition to 10 age-matched healthy lean controls (G I). NUCKS-1 expression was studied in breast tissue biopsies by means of real-time PCR (RT-PCR). Serum cytokine profiles were determined by immunoassay. Lipid profiles and glycemic status as well as anthropometric measures were also recorded for all participants.
Results: IL-6, IL-12 and LCN2 were significantly higher in control obese and breast cancer group than their relevant lean controls (p<0.05), while NUCKS-1 mRNA expression was significantly higher in the breast cancer group compared to the other groups (p<0.05). Significant higher levels of IL-6, IL-12, and LCN2 as well as NUCKS-1 mRNA levels were reported in G IIIb than G IIIa, and positively correlated with obesity markers in all obese patients.
Conclusions: Evaluation of cytokine levels as well as related gene expression may provide a new tool for understanding interactions for three axes of carcinogenesis, innate immunity, inflammation and cell cycling, and hope for new strategies of management.