The upregulated proteins in BC versus control are alpha-amylase, gelsolin isoform a precursor, alpha-2-glycoprotein 1 zinc isoform CRA_b partial, apoptosis-inducing factor 2 and vitronectin.
Further analyses, performed using a panel of breast cancer cell lines, allowed us to further elucidate the signaling network that might modulate the expression of gelsolin in breast cancer.
Low level of Gelsolin was found in metastatic patients (p=0.002) and patients who died from breast cancer (P=0.03) compared to disease free patients at final follow up.
Our previous analysis of breast cancer cells demonstrated that the deficiency is not due to mutation of the gelsolin gene, but instead to epigenetic factors, including decreased transcription of the gene.
The trend between increasing gelsolin loss and malignant progression from normal epithelium to DCIS to invasive breast cancer (P < 0.0001) suggests additional investigation is needed to determine the potential of altered gelsolin expression as a marker for prognosis and for therapeutic interventions in breast cancer.
Our results show that partial or total loss of gelsolin expression is common to the majority of breast cancers of diverse etiologies in three animal species and point to gelsolin as a candidate suppressor of breast cancer.