Abstract
Objectives: Induction chemotherapy (ICT) is the standard of care for patients with locally advanced breast cancer. The major criticism about ICT is the delay of surgery, which may affect the local control. Survivin functions by the regulation of mitosis and inhibition of apoptosis. The miR-542-3p regulates survivin mRNA, upregulation of miR-542-3p leads to the downregulation of survivin and arrest of the cell cycle at G1 and G2/M phases resulting in tumor growth suppression. We studied whether we can use survivin mRNA and miRNA-542-3p as potential biomarkers to predict response to ICT.
Methods: Fifty-one patients with locally advanced breast cancer were treated with ICT. miRNA-542-3p and survivin mRNA were determined in breast cancerous tissues and their nearby healthy breast tissues by a real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction.
Results: Our results revealed a negative correlation between miRNA and survivin. miRNA-542-3p levels were elevated in normal tissues and in patients with good prognostic features and response to ICT. On the contrary, survivin was upregulated in malignant tissues in patients with adverse prognostic features and patients with no response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
Conclusions: ICT is a promising option for the treatment of patients with locally advanced carcinoma of the breast. The studied miRNA-542-3p and its target survivin correlate inversely with each other in both malignant and their nearby normal tissues. miRNA-542-3p and survivin can be used as possible molecular markers for the prediction of response to ICT in locally advanced carcinoma of the breast.