PKCα expression is a marker for breast cancer aggressiveness

• Published in: Molecular cancer Vol. 9; no. 1; p. 76
• Main Authors: Lønne, Gry Kalstad, Cornmark, Louise, Zahirovic, Iris Omanovic, Landberg, Göran, Jirström, Karin, Larsson, Christer
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: BioMed Central Ltd 14.04.2010; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Cancer and Oncology; Cancer och onkologi; Clinical Medicine; Klinisk medicin; Medical and Health Sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap
• ISSN: 1476-4598; 1476-4598
• DOI: 10.1186/1476-4598-9-76

Abstract Background Protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms are potential targets for breast cancer therapy. This study was designed to evaluate which PKC isoforms might be optimal targets for different breast cancer subtypes. Results In two cohorts of primary breast cancers, PKCα levels correlated to estrogen and progesterone receptor negativity, tumor grade, and proliferative activity, whereas PKCδ and PKCε did not correlate to clinicopathological parameters. Patients with PKCα-positive tumors showed poorer survival than patients with PKCα-negative tumors independently of other factors. Cell line studies demonstrated that PKCα levels are high in MDA-MB-231 and absent in T47D cells which proliferated slower than other cell lines. Furthermore, PKCα silencing reduced proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells. PKCα inhibition or downregulation also reduced cell migration in vitro . Conclusions PKCα is a marker for poor prognosis of breast cancer and correlates to and is important for cell functions associated with breast cancer progression.