Dp103 in Egyptian Patients with Breast Cancer: Prognosis to Lymph Node Metastasis

Background: Dp103 is a multifunctional protein which binds and unwinds RNA secondary structures, therefore plays a vital role in RNA metabolism from birth to death.

Aims: The present study aimed to evaluate both serum levels and tissue expressions of Dp103 and explored their possible roles in lymph node metastasis within breast cancer Egyptian patients.

Methodology: Sixty patients were enrolled in this study; they were subdivided into two groups. First group included forty females newly diagnosed as primary breast cancer their age ranged from 26 to 81 and further subdivided in two groups according to lymph node involvement into twenty two patients without metastatic lymph node and eighteen patients with metastatic lymph node. Second group involved twenty females newly diagnosed as benign breast tumor their age ranged from 32 to 65, in addition to eighteen apparently healthy females aged range from 28 to 65 as controls. Serum level of both Dp103 and MMP-9 were determined using ELISA technique. CA 15.3 and CEA were determined using available commercial kits. Expression level for both Dp103 and NF-κB were estimated using qPCR.

Results: Serum levels of both Dp103 and MMP-9 were significantly higher in primary breast cancer patients when compared to benign tumor and healthy females (p<0.05). As well as, the expression levels of both Dp103 and NF-κB were significantly high in metastatic lymph node when compared to benign tumor and none metastatic lymph node groups (p<0.05). Also, serum levels of both Dp 103 and MMP-9 showed the same pattern of accretion when compared to none metastatic lymph node. Significant positive correlation was found between serum Dp103 in primary breast cancer patients and CA15.3 (r=0.3195 and p= 0.044).

Conclusion: Dp103 might be used as a prognostic biomarker for breast cancer progression and metastasis.