Connexin43 as a Tumor Suppressor: Proposed Connexin43 mRNA-circularRNAs-microRNAs Axis Towards Prevention and Early Detection in Breast Cancer

Frontiers in Medicine

article

Nataly Naser Al Deen¹  Mounir AbouHaidar²  Rabih Talhouk¹ 

[1] Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, American University of Beirut;Department of Cell and Systems Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Toronto

关键词: gap junctions;    connexins;    breast cancer;    microRNAs;    circularRNAs;    tumor-suppressors;    biomarkers;    prevention;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmed.2019.00192

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Breast cancer (BC) is a global public health burden, constituting the highest cancer incidence in women worldwide. Connexin43 (Cx43) is a member of a family of transmembrane proteins responsible in part for intercellular communication between adjacent breast epithelial cells, via gap junctions. Cx43 plays key role in mammary gland development and differentiation and its spatio-temporal perturbation contributes to tumorigenesis. Thus, Cx43 acts as a breast tumor-suppressor. Signaling pathways and phenotypes downstream of Cx43 mRNA loss/mis-localization in breast cells have been well-studied. However, axes parallel to Cx43 loss are less understood. microRNAs (miRNAs) are small endogenous non-coding RNAs that repress translation and circularRNAs (circRNAs) are a class of endogenous RNAs that originate from RNA splicing and act as miRNA “sponges”. CircRNAs and miRNAs are dysregulated in cancers and are highly abundant and stable in the circulation. Thus, they present as attractive liquid biopsy cancer biomarkers. Here, an axis for Cx43 mRNA-circRNAs-miRNAs interactions along BC initiation (denoted by loss of breast epithelial polarity and development of hyperplastic phenotypes) is proposed to potentially serve as a signature biomarker toward BC early-onset detection and prevention.

【 授权许可】

CC BY