Relationship between miR-29a Gene Expression and Progesterone Levels in Iraqi Patients with Breast Cancer

Document Type : New and original researches in the field of Microbiology.

Authors

1 Faculty of Dentistry, University of Kufa

2 Faculty of Science, University of Kufa

Abstract

Background: In Iraq and around the world, Breast Cancer (BC) is the most frequent disease that affects women. About 22 nucleotides, short and non coding RNA molecules known as microRNAs (miRNAs) are essential for regulating genes and a range of cellular functions, including differentiation, proliferation, and death. The studies have shown that progestogens may bind to both nuclear and membrane receptors, which can stimulate the development of tumors in the breast and increase of cells causing breast cancer. The study was aimed to assess the miRNA-29 expression and the progesterone hormone levels and their association at the patients diagnosed with the breast cancer. Methodology: The number of samples was 74 blood samples, collected from breast cancer patients who were 54 females and apparently healthy subjects (20). The total RNA was extracted from whole blood to synthesis the complementary DNA(cDNA) and level of miR-29a expression was determined by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) method. Serum levels of the progesterone hormone were measured by Enzyme linked lmmunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Results: The Progesterone hormone level  was significantly decreased  in breast cancer patients having a mean equal to (13.27±1.6 ng/ml) in comparison to (20.99±0.8 ng/ml) for the healthy control group (p<0.01) while miR-29a expression was significantly increased in the breast cancer patients (1.2±0.28) in comparison with healthy subjects (0.006± 0.0001) with p value (0.0021). Conclusion: As stated by the findings, the miR-29a expression can be used as diagnostic marker for the breast cancer examination in the laboratory investigations .miR-29 was significantly correlated with progesterone levels in breast cancer. Further studies are needed to  this correlation .

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