The decreased serum activity of cytosolic 5′-nucleotidase IA as a potential marker of breast cancer-associated muscle inflammation

Abstract

Cytosolic 5′-nucleotidase IA (cN-IA) plays a central role in the regulation of the purine nucleotide pool in skeletal muscle, preferentially converting adenosine monophosphate to adenosine. cN-IA can act as an autoantigen in muscle diseases, including the paraneoplastic syndrome related to breast cancer (BC). As a result of myocyte damage, released cN-IA protein may trigger the production of anti-cN-IA antibodies (anti-NT5C1A). This work aimed to develop an effective method to measure cN-IA activity in the serum and analyze it in BC patients. Our study demonstrated that serum cN-IA activity was decreased in BC patients and we assumed it is due to the presence of specific autoantibodies. We found correlations between cN-IA activity and parameters of inflammatory muscle damage. Thus, cN-IA is worth further attention to clarify its usefulness as a biomarker of BC-associated polymyositis.

Keywords:

• Cytosolic 5′-nucleotidase 1A
• cN-IA
• breast cancer
• anti-NT5C1A autoantibody
• polymyositis

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the National Center for Research and Development of Poland (STRATEGMED1/233226/11/NCBR/2015) and the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education “Excellence Initiative – Research University” (664/256/61/71-1405).