The role of ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporters in breast cancer: Evaluating prognosis, predicting immunity, and guiding treatment

ABSTRACT

Breast cancer is currently the most prevalent form of cancer worldwide. Nevertheless, there remains limited clarity regarding our understanding of the tumor microenvironment and metabolic characteristics associated with it. ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are the predominant transmembrane transporters found in organisms. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the role of ABC transporters in breast cancer. Transcriptome data from breast cancer patients were downloaded from the TCGA database. ABC transporter-related genes were obtained from the Genecards database. By LASSO regression, ABC-associated prognostic signature was constructed in breast cancer. Subsequently, immune microenvironment analysis was performed. Finally, cell experiments were performed to verify the function of ABCB7 in the breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7. Using the ABC transporter-associated signature, we calculated a risk score for each breast cancer patient. Patients with breast cancer were subsequently categorized into high-risk and low-risk groups, utilizing the median risk score as the threshold. Notably, patients in the high-risk group exhibited significantly worse prognosis (P<0.05). Additionally, differences were observed in terms of immune cell infiltration levels, immune correlations, and gene expression of immune checkpoints between the two groups. Functional experiments conducted on breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 demonstrated that ABCB7 knockdown significantly diminished cell activity, proliferation, invasion, and migration. These findings emphasize the significance of understanding ABC transporter-mediated metabolic and transport characteristics in breast cancer, offering promising directions for further research and potential therapeutic interventions.

KEYWORDS:

• Breast cancer
• ATP-binding cassette
• cancer metabolism
• signature
• immune

Abbreviations

ATP-binding cassette (ABC); Least Absolute And Selection Operator (LASSO); the cancer genome atlas (TCGA);

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available in TCGA database[https://www.tcga.org].

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by Talents Training Program of the Seventh People´s Hospital Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Grant No.XX2021-05, Grant No. QMX2022-05) and Health Committee of Pudong New Area (PWGw2020-02) and Pudong New Area Science and Technology Development Fund (grant no.PKJ2023- Y02).