Database analysis reveals endophilin A expression as a marker of metastasis and prognosis in breast cancer

Endophilin A, a family of Bin-Amphoterisin-Rvs (BAR) domain-conserved proteins, is found in several tissues and is associated with disease pathogenesis. In patients with breast cancer, endophilin A expression pertains to boosted tumour cell endocytosis, migration, and invadopodia formation, potentially linked to a poor prognosis.

This study aimed to determine the expression of endophilin A isoforms (SH3GL1, SH3GL2, and SH3GL3) in breast cancer using databases like UALCAN, GEPIA2, TIMER 2.0, geneMANIA, Enrichr, Km Plotter, and GENT2.

We report the elevated expression of SH3GL1 in TNBC and HER2 subtypes of breast carcinoma, and that positively correlated with advancing stage as well as lymph node metastasis, compared to SH3GL2 and SH3GL3. Additionally, the study demonstrates that in contrast to SH3GL1 and SH3GL3, elevated SH3GL2 transcript levels were positively associated with improved Overall Survival (OS), Relapse Free Survival (RFS), and Distance Metastasis Free Survival (DMFS compared to low expression levels among the breast cancer patients. Further, we also show the associated immune filtration with each endophilin isoform and link the expression of endophilin A isoform with p53 expression.

Based on our findings, it is possible to conclude that endophilin A isoforms-long recognised for orchestrating endocytosis and metastatic behaviour-may represent a critical molecular fulcrum in breast cancer progression. In particular, elevated expression of endophilin A2 (SH3GL1) and SH3GL2 strongly correlates with poor prognosis and node-positive breast cancer, highlighting their potential as promising biomarkers for breast cancer assessment.