Abstract
Early growth response family members (EGRs), EGR1–4, have increasingly attracted attention in multiple cancers. However, the exact expression patterns and prognostic values of EGRs in the progress of breast cancer (BRCA) remain largely unknown. The mRNA expression and prognostic characteristics of EGRs were examined by the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Oncomine, and Kaplan-Meier plotter. Enrichment analyses were conducted based on protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. The Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER) database and MethSurv were further explored. The protein expression of EGR1 in BRCA was measured by western blotting and immunohistochemistry. The migration of mammary epithelial cells was determined by Boyden chamber assay. The transcriptional levels of EGR1/2/3 displayed significantly low expression in BRCA compared with that in normal tissues, while EGR4 was shown adverse expression pattern. Survival analysis revealed upregulated EGR1–4 were remarkably associated with favorable relapse-free survival (RFS). A close correlation with specific tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) and several CpG sites of EGRs were exhibited. Immunohistochemistry assays showed that the protein expression of EGR1 was remarkably downregulated in BRCA compared with that in paracancerous tissues. The migration of MCF10A mammary epithelial cells was increased after the silence of EGR1 by siRNA transfection. This study provides a novel insight to the role of EGRs in the prognostic value of BRCA.
Highlights
Breast cancer (BRCA) remains one of the widespread and main fatal malignancies in female diseases worldwide (Nazih and Bard, 2020; Padmanabhan et al, 2020)
The mRNA expression level of EGR4 was absent in breast cancer (BRCA) (Figure 1)
The mRNA expression levels of EGR1/2/3 were negatively correlated with EGR4 and more studies should be devoted to explore the biological mechanism in various tumors
Summary
Breast cancer (BRCA) remains one of the widespread and main fatal malignancies in female diseases worldwide (Nazih and Bard, 2020; Padmanabhan et al, 2020). The overall survival (OS) and release-free survival (RFS) of patients with BRCA remain far from satisfaction (Harbeck and Gnant, 2017). It is difficult for patients with high risk to be diagnosed timely. EGR1–4 in Breast Cancer in the early screen system and to be evaluated accurately before postoperative recurrence, owing to lack of reliable and efficient biomarkers (Ronchi et al, 2020). The novel potential biomarkers for BRCA treatment need to pay more effort to explore
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