Evidence that ghrelin may be associated with the development of human breast cancer

Physiology 2015 (Cardiff, UK) (2015) Proc Physiol Soc 34, PC004

Poster Communications: Evidence that ghrelin may be associated with the development of human breast cancer

N. Al-Khawaja1,2, M. S. Karam3, S. M. Al Salam2, T. Iqbal1, J. Singh1

1. Pharmacy and Biomedical Science and Forensic and Investigative Sciences, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom. 2. Histopathology, United Arab Emirates University, AL-Ain, United Arab Emirates. 3. Human Anatomy, United Arab Emirates University, AL-Ain, United Arab Emirates.

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Ghrelin, a peptide hormone made of 28 amino acids, is distributed and expressed in many tissues. Two major functions of ghrelin involved the stimulation of growth hormone release and food intake. Ghrelin exerts a physiological effect via its functional receptor called growth hormone secretagogue receptors (GHSR1a). Ghrelin also plays an autocrine/paracrine role in a number of processes related to cancer progression, including cell proliferation, cell migration and invasion, and in apoptosis. This study investigated the expression of ghrelin hormone and its functional receptor in a total of 56 human mammary tissues (16 healthy, 16 benign and 24 cancerous) using immunohistochemistry method. The correlation between tissue expression to the hormone and its receptor and the histopathological characteristics of the cancerous tissues were examined for comparison. The work had ethical approval from both Institutions. The healthy tissues were obtained from women who underwent mammoplasty for cosmetic reasons. The results show that breast tissues invaded with cancer were structurally different from normal healthy tissues having prominent, lobules and ducts. Cancerous tissues appeared characteristic of ductal carcinoma containing dense fibrous stroma. There was a significant (Student’s t-test; p<0.05) and an exclusive and differential immune-reactivity to ghrelin in the cancerous mammary tissues compared to normal and benign tissues which showed little or no immune-reactivity to ghrelin All tissue morphological types showed immune-reactivity to the ghrelin hormone functional receptor, (the GHS-R1a). There was a significant (p<0.05) down regulation of the receptors in malignant tissues showing either no or weak immune-reactivity to the GHS-R1a receptor. Immuno-reactivity to ghrelin and its receptor was independent of the histopathological characteristic of breast cancer, except for the lymph node status which is the extent of axillary metastasis to the lymph nodes for the breast cancer. There was also a significant (p<0.05) correlation between strong receptor immune-reactivity at the cancerous tissues and low metastasis to the lymph nodes. The majority of the victims had invasive ductal cancer (90%) compared to ductal carcinoma in situ and invasive lobular carcinoma (8.3%). These correlated strongly with the stages (8.3 %, 12.5%, 50.5%, 8.3% and 37.5 % for stages 0, I, II, III and -IV, respectively), grades (12.5%, 37.5% and 50% for grades I, II and III, respectively). Similarly, over 75% of the victims had positive expressions for oestrogen, progesterone and HER-2. These results demonstrated a close relationship between breast cancer and ghrelin in human subjects from the UAE.



Where applicable, experiments conform with Society ethical requirements.

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