Background
Patients with breast cancer-the deadliest cancer among women-are at constant risk of developing metastasis. Oxidative stress and hypoxia are common feature of tumor cells that can proliferate even in a resultant metabolic acidosis. Despite the low extracellular pH, intracellular pH of tumor cells remains relatively normal, or even more alkaline due to the action of a membrane protein family known as monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs). The
Conclusion
markers studied here could be a promising strategy in routine laboratory evaluations as breast cancer diagnosis and prognosis.
Methods
Differential expression of MCT1, MCT4 and CD147 obtained by qPCR was determined by 2-ΔΔCq method between biological samples (tumor and serial samples of peripheral) of patients (n = 125) and healthy women (n = 25).
Results
tumor samples with higher histological grades have shown higher expression of these markers; this higher expression was also observed in blood samples obtained at diagnosis of patients when compared to healthy women and in patients with positive progression of the disease (metastasis development).