Abstract
Lymphovascular invasion (LVI) is a common phenomenon in breast cancer (BC), and it is correlated to poor outcome. However, the biomarkers that influence the development of LVI remain to be defined. Through rigorous bioinformatics analyses, high mobility group protein 3 (HMGB3) was revealed as a driver gene that is associated with the presence of LVI. The purpose of this study was to further investigate the role of HMGB3 in the pathogenesis of LVI in BC. In vitro functional assays were performed to investigate the effect of HMGB3 silencing on cell proliferation, migration, adherence and transmigration of BC cell lines with dermal lymphatic endothelial cells (DLECs) and human vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs). The correlation of HMGB3 expression with clinicopathological parameters was also assessed at the transcriptomic and the proteomic levels using large BC cohorts with well-characterised LVI status. Silencing HMGB3 reduced cell proliferation, migration, adherence and transmigration across endothelial cell lines. At the mRNA and protein levels, high HMGB3 expression was significantly correlated with LVI-positivity, higher tumour grade, lymph nodal stage, hormone receptor negativity, HER2 positivity and poor outcome. Moreover, high HMGB3 expression was an independent predictor of shorter breast cancer-specific survival. HMGB3 plays an oncogenic function and contributes to the development of LVI in BC. Results warrant further investigation as a potential target to inhibit LVI in BC.