LRP6 overexpression in human breast cancer is associated with higher grades, and poor prognosis

Introduction & Aim: The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is activated in breast cancer, a prominent reason of cancer mortality in women. The low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 6 (LRP6) is an importantWnt co-receptor of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Although, LRP6 function in tumor progression and development remains to be elucidated. Therefore, in the current study LRP6 expression in tumor tissues of breast cancer and its relationship with pathologic-clinical symptoms has been investigated.Methods:In this case-control study, 50formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tumoral tissues of breast cancer and 50 non-tumoral adjacent tissues were enrolled. Total RNA was extracted and cDNA was synthesized, subsequently the relative gene expression was determined using quantitative real-time RT PCR (qRT-PCR) and evaluated by 2^(-∆∆ct) method. Finally, the expression pattern was analyzed by statistical analysis.Results:The resultsshowed that, the average of LRP6 relative expression was significantly higher in tumor tissues compared to adjacent healthy tissues (P = 0.04). In this study, the increased gene expression was obviously observed at tumor grade 2 and 3 (high grade) compare lower grade and there was statistically a significant difference between them with a 95% confidence level (P = 0.004).Conclusion: The results of recent study have revealed LRP6 promotes cell migration and being used as a potential therapeutic target in breast cancer. According to this study, it can be proposed that upregulation of LRP6 increased risk developing breast cancer. Therefore, supplementary studies should be done to elucidate the exact mechanism of action of LRP6 in Wnt signaling pathway.