Notch-regulated Ankyrin Repeat Protein Is Overexpressed in Different Subtypes of Breast Cancer

Abstract

Introduction: Breast cancer (BC) is a highly heterogeneous disease that has been classified into several subtypes at the molecular level, each with a distinct outcome. Recently, Notch-regulated ankyrin-repeat protein (NRARP), a gene expressed followed by Notch signal activation, has attracted interest due to its aberrant expression in different types of cancer. Accordingly, this study evaluated the expression levels of NRARP in different subtypes of BC. Methods: The MCF-7, SKBR3, MDA-MB-468, and MDA-MB-231 human BC cell lines, which represent the luminal, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpression, basal A, and basal B subtypes, respectively, as well as MCF-10A as a normal breast epithelial cell for comparison, were selected and grown in the appropriate medium. The relative expression of NRARP in BC cell lines was then determined using the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Results: The results of the qRT-PCR demonstrated that the expression level of NRARP in all BC cell lines was significantly higher than that of the normal breast epithelial cells (P<0.05). However, the significance was more noteworthy in luminal, HER2-overexpressing, and basal A (7.72, 5.81, and 4.6 folds, respectively). Conclusion: NRARP is a potential target gene for further interventional studies due to its abnormal expression in different subtypes of BC.