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Updated: Jul 22, 2025
Performing Data Mining And Integrative Analysis Of Biomarker in Breast Cancer Using Multiple Publicly Accessible Databases
Published on: May 17, 2019
Development and validation of Ran as a prognostic marker in stage I and stage II primary breast cancer
Mohamed El-Tanani1, Angela Platt-Higgins2, Hamdi Nsairat3
1College of Pharmacy, Ras Al Khaimah Medical and Health Sciences University, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE; Pharmacological and Diagnostic Research Center, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman 19328, Jordan.
Purpose:
Existing prognostic biomarkers are inadequate for stratifying breast cancer patients with the highest risk of tumor progression at the time of diagnosis. Here, we demonstrate that the small GTPase Ran has predictive value for breast cancer (BC) patients as a whole, and for specific BC subtypes.
Patients And Methods:
Ran expression was quantified by immunohistochemistry in 263 patients with primary breast cancer diagnosed at the Breast Unit, Royal Liverpool Hospital. Additionally as an independent validation, we also analyzed the mRNA expressions of Ran, ER, PR, and Cerb-2, the triple-negative endocrine receptors, and their associations with patient survival in a combined patient cohorts of multiple public datasets (n = 1079). We analyzed the data with Spearman's rank correlation and Kaplan-Meier plots coupled with Wilcoxon-Gehan tests, respectively. All statistical tests were two-sided.
Results:
Ran nuclear, cytoplasmic, and total staining are substantially associated with poor survival, independent of conventional prognostic markers such as estrogen receptor (ER), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), and lymph node status. According to the datasets, Ran was significantly correlated with distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) and relapse-free survival (RFS).
Conclusion:
We found that Ran expression is a unique predictive biomarker for patient survival, metastasis, and tumor relapse. This biomarker could be used for diagnostic purposes, using formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor biopsy samples from breast cancer patients in the early stages.
