AUTHOR=Li Ming , Wang Xiao , Ma Ran-Ran , Shi Duan-Bo , Wang Ya-Wen , Li Xiao-Mei , He Jun-Yi , Wang Jun , Gao Peng 

TITLE=The Olfactory Receptor Family 2, Subfamily T, Member 6 (OR2T6) Is Involved in Breast Cancer Progression via Initiating Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and MAPK/ERK Pathway

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2019

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2019.01210

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2019.01210

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=Breast cancer is the most common female malignancy in the world, however its molecular pathogenesis still needs in-depth investigation. Here we first revealed that OR2T6, which belongs to the olfactory receptor (OR) family, was over-expressed in breast cancer tissues compared with normal breast tissues (p<0.05). OR2T6 expression was tightly correlated with higher TNM staging and lymph node metastasis (p=0.033 and 0.002 separately), and associated with worse patients’ overall and disease-free survival (p=0.009 and 0.013 separately). In the in vitro level, OR2T6 enhanced the proliferation, invasion and migration ability of breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MD-231). It promoted the expression of mesenchymal markers (Vimentin, N-cadherin and β-catenin) while inhibits E-cadherin expression. Thus OR2T6 might play a key role in the regulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process. Moreover, the human gene expression microarray clarified that MAPK/ERK pathway could be initiated by OR2T6 which was further identified by western blot analysis. So we proposed that OR2T6, as a novel oncogene, contributed to the progression of breast carcinoma by the initiation of EMT and MAPK/ERK pathway.