Bioinformatics-Based Prediction of FUT8 as a Therapeutic Target in Estrogen Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer

Abstract Introduction: Estrogen receptor-positive (ER-positive) breast cancer is a subgroup of breast tumors that is more likely to respond to hormone therapy. ER-positive and ER- negative breast cancers tend to show different patterns of metastasis because of different signaling cascade and genes that are activated by estrogen response. Genetic factors can contribute to high rates of metastasis in ER-positive breast cancer. Fucosyltransferase 8 (FUT8) is a member of fucosyltransferases family and plays an important role in α-1,6 linkage to the first GlcNAc residue of N-glycans chain. In this study, for the first time, we predicted FUT8 by bioinformatics tools as a novel therapeutic target for ER-positive breast cancer. Methods: Microarray gene expression data of 9 patients with ER+ve and 10 individuals with ER-ve breast cancer was extracted from Geodatasets. Gene expression of two ER+ and ER- patients was compared with logfc and then sorted by their p-values. Moreover, the most related pathway, protein interaction, and function of this gene were identified with GeneCard and DAVID databases. Results: FUT8 was highly expressed in patients with ER+ve breast cancer that may be associated with the metastasis. FUT8 encodes an enzyme that belongs to fucosyltransferases family. The expression of this gene may contribute to the malignancy features of cancer cells and their invasive and metastatic capabilities. Conclusions: Having in mind FUT8 hyperexpression, its function in malignancy, and its pathways, it can be concluded that FUT8 can be used as a therapeutic target in ER+ve breast cancer.