Expression profile analysis and validation of genes associated with breast cancer

Abstract

Breast cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer related death in women around the globe. The process of tumor invasion and subsequent metastasis represents the most lethal aspect of breast cancer like any other cancer and is responsible for the majority of deaths among cancer patients. Our objective was to identify specific genes involved in such phenomenon or any othermechanism/networks in breast cancer. We analyzed microarray data of breast cancer tissues samples and compared with array of normal breast epithelium to obtain a list of 255 genes that are differentially expressed in breast cancer patients. Out of 255, 153 genes were reported to be down-regulated and 102 genes were up-regulated in breast cancer. From this differentially expressed genes list, we choose two genes, EGR1 & LAMB1 for experimental validation in cell lines, because their deregulation might be contributing factor of breast cancer by affecting pathways/processes in the body. The expressions of these two genes were validated by qRT-PCR in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines, followed by elucidating their association in various biological networks.