Decreased expression of ARSD gene in high grade tumor tissue of breast cancer

Introduction & Aim: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the world. According to statistics, one woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every 10-15 women in Iran. Arylsulfatase D gene (ARSD) is a member of the sulfatase family which plays a key role in the metabolism of sphingolipids as well as in both androgen and estrogen metabolism. Here, we endeavored to present for the first time the ARSD expression level in breast tumors and its association with tumor size and grade.Methods: The expression level correlation of ARSD gene with tumor grade and tumor size was investigated in 40 clinical samples of tumor tissues and their normal margins in breast cancer patients. Total cellular RNA was isolated, cDNA synthesized and Real-Time PCR performed for quantification assessment of ARSD expression. Expression level of ARSD was analyzed and its association with tumor grade and tumor size, in clinical samples of breast tumor tissues compared to margin normal tissues was evaluated.Results: According to our previous work ARSD is down-regulated in breast tumor tissue compared to margin normal tissue. However, the expression level of ARSD was associated with tumor grade in which high grade of tumor (III) showed lower expression of ARSD. Moreover, tumor size more than 2.5 cm revealed high expression level of ARSD, however was not significant. Conclusion: Association of low expression of ARSD with tumor grade may be interesting for further investigation in breast cancer progression studies.