Abstract
BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer among women, and PSEN1 dysfunction is a primary contributor to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. However, the involvement of PSEN1 in breast cancer remains unclear. This study was conducted to explore the function and related mechanisms of PSEN1 in breast cancer cells. METHODS: The correlation between two genes was determined utilizing the R2 platform, and the association between gene expression and prognosis was analyzed employing the Kaplan-Meier plotter. The expression of PSEN1 in breast cancer was assessed by in immunofluorescence. The Transwell assay was employed to detect the migration and invasion capabilities of cells. Colony formation and EdU staining were employed to evaluate the effects of PSEN1 on breast cancer cell proliferation. RESULTS: We observed a positive correlation between the expression of PSEN1 and the prognosis of breast cancer patients. After manipulated the expression of PSEN1 in breast cancer cell lines Sum159 and BT549, we found that PSEN1 could inhibit cell proliferation and growth in breast cancer through colony formation assays and EdU staining. Meanwhile, we revealed that interference with the cell cycle by PSEN1 was associated with cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors (CKIs) in breast cancer samples. Furthermore, we observed that an increase in PSEN1 expression inhibited the invasive capabilities of breast cancer cells, while a decrease in PSEN1 expression enhanced invasion in both Sum159 and BT549 cell lines. Lastly, we discovered a negative correlation between PSEN1 and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) transcription factors as well as markers in breast cancer patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates that PSEN1 inhibits the invasion and proliferation of breast cancer cells, suggesting that PSEN1 could potentially serve as a prognostic biomarker and a novel therapeutic target for patients with breast cancer.