Transcriptomics profiling study of breast cancer from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia revealed altered expression of Adiponectin and Fatty Acid Binding Protein4: Is lipid metabolism associated with breast cancer?
BACKGROUND
Breast cancer incidence rates are increasing at an alarming rate among Saudi Arabian females. Most molecular genetic discoveries on breast cancer and other cancers have arisen from studies examining European and American patients. However, possibility of specific changes in molecular signature among cancer patients of diverse ethnic groups remains largely unexplored. We performed transcriptomic profiling of surgically-resected breast tumors from 45 patients based in the Western region of Saudi Arabia using Affymetrix Gene 1.0 ST chip. Pathway and biological function-based clustering was apparent across the tissue samples.


RESULTS
Pathway analysis revealed canonical pathways that had not been previously implicated in breast cancer. Biological network analysis of differentially regulated genes revealed that Fatty acid binding protein 4, adipocyte (FABP4), adiponectin (ADIPOQ), and retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4) were most down regulated genes, sharing strong connection with the other molecules of lipid metabolism pathway. The marked biological difference in the signatures uncovered between the USA and Saudi samples underpins the importance of this study. Connectivity Map identified compounds that could reverse an observed gene expression signature


CONCLUSIONS
This study describes, to our knowledge, the first genome-wide profiling of breast cancer from Saudi ethnic females. We demonstrate the involvement of the lipid metabolism pathway in the pathogenesis of breast cancer from this region. This finding also highlights the need for strategies to curb the increasing rates of incidence of this disease by educating the public about life-style risk factors such as unhealthy diet and obesity.
Adnan
A
Merdad
Sajjad
S
Karim
Hans-Juergen
HJ
Schulten
Manikandan
M
Jayapal
Ashraf
A
Dallol
Abdelbaset
A
Buhmeida
Fatima
F
Al-Thubaity
Mamdooh A
MA
GariI
Adeel G A
AG
Chaudhary
Adel M
AM
Abuzenadah
Mohammed H
MH
Al-Qahtani
D052242:Adiponectin / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000628:therapy; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D052138:Genes, Neoplasm; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D050356:Lipid Metabolism / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics
C499918:ADIPOQ protein, human; D052242:Adiponectin; C493410:FABP4 protein, human; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins