Cancer Diagnosis & Treatment

Biography

Biography: Rim Bouchelaghem

Abstract

Breast cancer is considered the leading cause of death for women worldwide.
Currently, the characterization of biomarkers for subtypes of breast cancer is an
urgent requirement that makes it possible to better optimize the consensus of diagnosis
and treatment of this disease in more homogeneous subgroups. Pre-clinical exploratory
studies to identify potential candidates as tumor biomarkers are considered the first
step to refine the research of such molecules. Many members of the G protein-coupled
receptors family (GPCRs) are known for their implication in breast cancer progression
and metastasis. In our study, we aim to verify the role of intracellular signaling induced
by Apelin peptide jejunum (APJ), a GPCR, as a new modulator of growth signaling in the
breast cancer cell line, MCF-7. We confirmed for the first time the constitutive expression
of the APJ receptor in MCF-7 by two different techniques, immunocytochemistry, and
confocal microscopy. Also, we explored the effect of APJ activation by its specific ligand,
apelin-13, on the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), which is known in the literature
for its antiproliferative effect on MCF-7 cell line. MCF-7 cells were treated for 5, 10, 20,
30 or 60 minutes with 100 nM apelin-13, in the presence or the absence of 1 nM estrogen.
We verified by immunoblotting that apelin-13 decreases the constitutive AMPK activity
in a time-dependent manner. Our results confirm that, the activation of APJ in MCF-7
by apelin-13 and suggest a proliferative role of this hormone, at least by the abrogation
of the AMPK signaling pathway. Our study will provide a new trail in the understanding
of the molecular mechanisms involved in breast carcinogenesis, a prerequisite for the
development of targeted therapies against this complex disease.