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Background. Breast cancer (BCa) is one of the most common oncological diseases in women in Ukraine and worldwide, which determines the need to search for new diagnostic and prognostic markers. In this aspect, the study of multicellular proteins, in particular osteopontin (OPN) and osteonectin (ON), in BCа tissue is relevant. The aim of the work was to investigate the expression of SPP1 and SPARC at the mRNA and protein levels in BCa tissue and to assess their relationship with the main clinicopathological BCa characteristics and the survival rates of patients. Materials and Methods. The work was based on the analysis of the results of the examination and treatment of 60 patients with stage II—III BCa and 15 patients with breast fibroadenomas. SPP1 and SPARC mRNA levels were determined by real-time PCR. The study of the expression of protein products of the SPP1 and SPARC genes was carried out by the immunohistochemical method. Results. We have established that the BCa tissue was characterized by 3.5 (p < 0.05) and 7.4 (p < 0.05) lower levels of SPP1 and SPARC mRNA, respectively, compared to the tissue of benign neoplasms, while OPN and ON expression levels were 1.6 (p < 0.05) and 5.6 (p < 0.05) times higher, respectively, compared to fibroadenoma tissue. The analysis of the relationship between the expression of SPP1 and SPARC at the protein and mRNA levels in BCa tissue and the main clinicopathological BCa characteristics revealed its dependence on the presence of metastases in regional lymph nodes, differentiation grade, and the molecular BCa subtype. Also, high expression levels of SPP1 and OPN were associated with worse patient survival rates. Conclusion. The obtained results indicate the perspective of using SPP1 and SPARC expression indices in BCa tissue to assess the aggressiveness of the cancer course and optimize the tactics of treating patients.
Чехун et al. (Fri,) studied this question.