Association between HIF-1a and LIF expression in peripheral blood of patients with breast cancer.

• Grant number: 23/00550-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2023
• End date: March 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Clinics
• Principal Investigator: Beatriz da Costa Aguiar Alves Reis
• Grantee: Maria Paula Duran Penteado
• Host Institution: Centro Universitário FMABC (FMABC). Santo André , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most frequent and the major cause of death from this disease among women, especially in view of the possibility of metastasis. Thus, the severity of this disease is evident, becoming a reason for global concern, emphasizing the need for greater attention at various levels of disease management, from screening to diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. Tumor development demands an interconnection of several signaling pathways, the cellular microenvironment and the innate characteristics of each patient, which influences the pathophysiology, progression and response to treatment in each type of breast cancer. Thus, personalized medicine, facilitated by new, less invasive molecular tests, plays an important role. Hypoxia is a characteristic of most tumors, normally characterizing invasive and proliferative tumors. In hypoxia, tumors show increased expression of Hypoxia-Induced Factors (HIFs), transcription factors that confer greater tumor aggressiveness, greater invasiveness and metastasis, worse prognosis, decreased survival, greater recurrence and therapeutic resistance. In addition to activating the production of enzymes in the glycolytic pathway, activation of HIFs leads to overexpression of glucose transporters, which explains the increased uptake of glucose by tumor cells. Another gene whose expression is modulated by HIF-1a during tissue hypoxia is Leukemia Inhibitory Factor (LIF). Like HIF-1±, LIF is expressed at high levels in various malignant cells from different tissues. Thus, in this work we propose to study the association of HIF-1a and LIF gene expression in the peripheral blood of patients with breast cancer and their use as a diagnostic and prognostic marker in liquid biopsy.