Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41088372›Full record

ArticleJournal of translational medicine2025

A novel six-biomarker panel identified from male breast cancer-associated fibroblasts demonstrates prognostic power for prostate tumors.

Marianna Talia, Domenica Scordamaglia, Francesca Cirillo, Azzurra Zicarelli, Ernestina Marianna De Francesco, Roberta Malaguarnera, Eugenio Cesario, Anna Maria Miglietta, Marcello Maggiolini, Rosamaria Lappano

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Article in Journal of translational medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Marianna Talia *Department of Pharmacy, Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Calabria, 87036, Rende, Italy.
Domenica Scordamaglia *Department of Pharmacy, Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Calabria, 87036, Rende, Italy.
Francesca CirilloDepartment of Medicine and Surgery, University of Enna "Kore", 94100, Enna, Italy.
Azzurra ZicarelliDepartment of Medicine and Surgery, University of Enna "Kore", 94100, Enna, Italy.
Ernestina Marianna De FrancescoDepartment of Medicine and Surgery, University of Enna "Kore", 94100, Enna, Italy.
Roberta MalaguarneraDepartment of Medicine and Surgery, University of Enna "Kore", 94100, Enna, Italy.
Eugenio CesarioDepartment of Cultures, Education and Society, University of Calabria, 87036, Rende, Italy.
Anna Maria MigliettaBreast and General Surgery Unit, Annunziata Hospital Cosenza, 87100, Cosenza, Italy.
Marcello MaggioliniDepartment of Pharmacy, Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Calabria, 87036, Rende, Italy.
Rosamaria LappanoDepartment of Pharmacy, Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Calabria, 87036, Rende, Italy. rosamaria.lappano@unical.it.

Funding

Fondazione AIRC per la ricerca sul cancro ETS IG 27386Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca Prin 2022 202282CMEAMinistero dell'Università e della Ricerca Prin 2022 2022Y79PT4Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca Prin 2022 PNRR P2022MALRP
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMale breast cancer (BC) is rare, accounting for only approximately 1% of all cases of BC, and poorly characterized. In contrast, prostate cancer is the most prevalent cancer in men and serves as a model for understanding male-specific tumor biology. The advent of high-throughput technologies has enabled the development of gene expression signatures for both breast and prostate tumors that could inform prognosis and guide treatment. In this respect, the role of the tumor microenvironment, particularly cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), remains largely underexplored. Here, we sought to identify a CAF-related gene signature in male patients with BC and prostate cancer to reveal specific protumorigenic mechanisms and identify novel therapeutic targets for both malignancies.

methodsRNA sequencing was performed to analyze and compare the transcriptomes of CAFs isolated from female and male BC patients. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between female and male breast CAFs were identified and subjected to enrichment analyses. Using a set of candidate upregulated genes in male breast CAFs, K-means clustering of prostate cancer patients was performed using multiple datasets to define a prognostic gene signature. Kaplan‒Meier curves and log-rank tests were conducted to assess differences in patient outcomes and other clinical variables between groups of patients with high or low prognostic gene expression. The clustering results were then validated using decision tree analysis, and boosted calculations were employed to increase the classifier performance.

resultsTranscriptomic profiling revealed 775 DEGs between female and male breast CAFs. Owing to the limited transcriptomic data from male BC patients, we leveraged large prostate cancer cohorts to investigate the relevance of the genes expressed by male breast CAFs. A six-gene signature (ASPN, COL4A1, COL4A2, COL5A3, COMP and FN1) that could predict patient outcomes in multiple independent cohorts of prostate cancer patients was identified.

conclusionsWe identified a novel gene signature with strong prognostic value in prostate cancer and potential relevance to male BC. This gene signature represents a complementary tool to standard clinical parameters for improving patient stratification and management.

Indexed as

Biomarkers, TumorBreast Neoplasms, MaleCancer-Associated FibroblastsProstatic NeoplasmsAgedCluster AnalysisFemaleGene Expression ProfilingGene Expression Regulation, NeoplasticHumansMaleMiddle AgedPrognosisTranscriptomeBiomarkers, TumorCancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs)Gene signatureK-meansMale breast cancerProstate cancerRNA-sequencing

Identifiers

PMID41088372
PMCPMC12522489

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.