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Bokil AA, Le Boulvais Børkja M, Wolowczyk C, Lamsal A, Prestvik WS, Nonstad U, Pettersen K, Andersen SB, Bofin AM, Bjørkøy G, Hak S, Giambelluca MS. Discovery of a new marker to identify myeloid cells associated with metastatic breast tumours. Cancer Cell Int 2023; 23:279. [PMID: 37980483 PMCID: PMC10656772 DOI: 10.1186/s12935-023-03136-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2023] [Accepted: 11/10/2023] [Indexed: 11/20/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Myeloid cells play an essential role in cancer metastasis. The phenotypic diversity of these cells during cancer development has attracted great interest; however, their functional heterogeneity and plasticity have limited their role as prognostic markers and therapeutic targets. METHODS To identify markers associated with myeloid cells in metastatic tumours, we compared transcriptomic data from immune cells sorted from metastatic and non-metastatic mammary tumours grown in BALB/cJ mice. To assess the translational relevance of our in vivo findings, we assessed human breast cancer biopsies and evaluated the association between arginase 1 protein expression in breast cancer tissues with tumour characteristics and patient outcomes. RESULTS Among the differentially expressed genes, arginase 1 (ARG1) showed a unique expression pattern in tumour-infiltrating myeloid cells that correlated with the metastatic capacity of the tumour. Even though ARG1-positive cells were found almost exclusively inside the metastatic tumour, ARG1 protein was also present in the plasma. In human breast cancer biopsies, the presence of ARG1-positive cells was strongly correlated with high-grade proliferating tumours, poor prognosis, and low survival. CONCLUSION Our findings highlight the potential use of ARG1-positive myeloid cells as an independent prognostic marker to evaluate the risk of metastasis in breast cancer patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ansooya A Bokil
- Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Centre of Molecular Inflammation Research (CEMIR), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Mathieu Le Boulvais Børkja
- Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Camilla Wolowczyk
- Centre of Molecular Inflammation Research (CEMIR), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Apsana Lamsal
- Centre of Molecular Inflammation Research (CEMIR), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Wenche S Prestvik
- Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Unni Nonstad
- Centre of Molecular Inflammation Research (CEMIR), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Kristine Pettersen
- Centre of Molecular Inflammation Research (CEMIR), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Sonja B Andersen
- Centre of Molecular Inflammation Research (CEMIR), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Anna M Bofin
- Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Geir Bjørkøy
- Centre of Molecular Inflammation Research (CEMIR), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Sjoerd Hak
- Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Department of Biotechnology and Nanomedicine, SINTEF, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Miriam S Giambelluca
- Centre of Molecular Inflammation Research (CEMIR), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Science, UiT- The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
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Børkja MLB, Giambelluca MS, Ytterhus B, Prestvik WS, Bjørkøy G, Bofin AM. S100A8 gene copy number and protein expression in breast cancer: associations with proliferation, histopathological grade and molecular subtypes. Breast Cancer Res Treat 2023:10.1007/s10549-023-07019-6. [PMID: 37450087 PMCID: PMC10361851 DOI: 10.1007/s10549-023-07019-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2023] [Accepted: 06/20/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Amplification of S100A8 occurs in 10-30% of all breast cancers and has been linked to poorer prognosis. Similarly, the protein S100A8 is overexpressed in a roughly comparable proportion of breast cancers and is also found in infiltrating myeloid-lineage cells, again linked to poorer prognosis. We explore the relationship between these findings. METHODS We examined S100A8 copy number (CN) alterations using fluorescence in situ hybridization in 475 primary breast cancers and 117 corresponding lymph nodes. In addition, we studied S100A8 protein expression using immunohistochemistry in 498 primary breast cancers from the same cohort. RESULTS We found increased S100A8 CN (≥ 4) in tumor epithelial cells in 20% of the tumors, increased S100A8 protein expression in 15%, and ≥ 10 infiltrating S100A8 + polymorphonuclear cells in 19%. Both increased S100A8 CN and protein expression in cancer cells were associated with high Ki67 status, high mitotic count and high histopathological grade. We observed no association between increased S100A8 CN and S100A8 protein expression, and only a weak association (p = 0.09) between increased CN and number of infiltrating S100A8 + immune cells. Only S100A8 protein expression in cancer cells was associated with significantly worse prognosis. CONCLUSIONS Amplification of S100A8 does not appear to be associated with S100A8 protein expression in breast cancer. S100A8 protein expression in tumor epithelial cells identifies a subgroup of predominantly non-luminal tumors with a high mean age at diagnosis and significantly worse prognosis. Finally, S100A8 alone is not a sufficient marker to identify infiltrating immune cells linked to worse prognosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathieu Le Boulvais Børkja
- Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
| | - Miriam S Giambelluca
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Science, UiT- The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
- Centre of Molecular Inflammation Research (CEMIR), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Borgny Ytterhus
- Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Wenche S Prestvik
- Department of Biomedical Laboraxtory Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Geir Bjørkøy
- Centre of Molecular Inflammation Research (CEMIR), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Department of Biomedical Laboraxtory Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Science Centre Nordland, Midtre gate 1, Mo i Rana, 8624, Norway
| | - Anna M Bofin
- Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
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