Expressão dos genes CD39, CD73 e P2X7 em pacientes com câncer de mama luminal

Abstract

Breast cancer (BC) is considered a multifactorial disease that may arise from alterations in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) repair. The tumor formation process in BC involves the activation of the purinergic system (PS) by purinergic receptor signaling and through the presence of extracellular nucleotides and nucleosides. This study aimed to characterize the expression of CD39, CD73 and P2X7 genes in neoplastic tissue and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with BC and healthy control individuals. This is a cross- sectional study with quantitative case-control analysis including 32 participants. The analyses of gene expression of CD39, CD73 and P2X7 genes in breast tumors and in PBMCs of patients with BC showed that the expression of the P2X7 gene is significantly higher (p=0.0032) in relation to the expression of the CD39 gene in PBMC samples of patients with BC. The expression of the CD39 gene in breast tumor samples, PBMCs from patients with BC and controls was significant between groups (p=0.006). The expression of CD39 was 1.71 times higher in tumors compared to PBMCs from patients with BC (p=0.02) and was 0.11 times lower in PBMCs from patients with BC compared to controls (p=0.01). The data showed a distinct modulation in the expression of the P2X7, CD73 and CD39 genes between breast tumor samples, PBMCs from patients with BC and controls. The results presented reinforce the importance of investigating biomarkers and molecular mechanisms involved in BC. The modulation of these genes may help in the identification of new therapeutic targets or biomarkers for monitoring tumor progression in BC.