Overexpression of TIGAR and HO-1 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of breast cancer patients treated with radiotherapy

Abstract

Introduction

Radiation therapy (RT) is one of the primary treatment choices for breast cancer. In reaction to RT, many metabolic processes in the body are triggered, some of which have a role in counteracting free radicals in cancer cells. As a result, it is important to comprehend the effects of RT on multiple genes, biomarkers and enzymes in the body.

Methods and materials

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were obtained from 83 breast cancer patients in pre-and post- RT (50 Gray (Gy) in 25 fractions). The TIGAR and HO-1 gene expressions were investigated by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Serum bilirubin, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total protein (TP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were assayed in serum patients before and after RT.

Results

We found that bilirubin (p = .001), ALT (p = .04), and AST (p = .03) were significantly increased, while TAC (p < .001) and TP (p = .001) were decreased after RT. However, albumin and ALP did not change after RT (p > .05 for both). Interestingly, RT led to overexpression of TIGAR (p = .004) and HO-1 (p = .003) genes in breast cancer patients.

Conclusions

The findings of this study showed that RT could overexpress TIGAR and HO-1 in PBMCs of breast cancer patients. More research is required to figure out the mechanisms behind the impacts of RT on increased catabolism and production of bilirubin or increased activity of TIGAR-related pathways and overexpression of TIGAR and HO-1.

Keywords:

• Breast cancer
• radiotherapy
• TIGAR
• heme oxygenase-1
• ROS

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the participation of the women throughout the study process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was extracted from M.Sc. thesis of Aria Dianati-Nasab and funded by the Deputy of Research and Technology of the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran, based on the research grant number: 21117-01-01-98. The study funder has no role in study design, data collection, manuscript writing and submission.

Notes on contributors

Aria Dianati-Nasab

Aria Dianti-Nasab started his academic studies in 2014 with a bachelor's degree in nutrition, and four years later, in 2018, he continued his studies in clinical biochemistry at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. He now holds a Master's degree in Clinical Biochemistry. His favorite fields are cancer, diabetes, and metabolic and biochemical pathways.

Hamid Nasrollahi

Mahboubeh Ghorbani graduated in chemistry in 2016 and graduated in clinical biochemistry from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in 2020.she is interested in cancer, drugs, and the study of metabolic pathways in cancer.

Zahra Khoshdel

Zahra Khoshdel, who is currently an Assistant Professor of Clinical Biochemistry at Shiraz University, specializes in various studies in the fields of cancer, enzyme therapy, the study of various genes in cancer, and more professionally, in the field of neuroscience.

Mahboobeh Ghorbani

Seyed Mohammad Shafiei, who is currently an associate professor at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences and director of the Autophagy Research Center, has conducted various studies in the fields of cancer, autophagy, tumor marker studies, and metabolic pathways.

Sayed Mohammad Shafiee

Hamid Nasrollahi, a radiotherapy and oncology specialist, works as a physician at Shiraz Namazi Hospital. As a university professor, he also conducted various studies in the field of radiation therapy and cancer, as well as the study of tumor markers in cancer.