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BackgroundPrevious evidence have demonstrated that p21-activated kinase PAK4 was correlated with breast cancer. The aim of this paper is to study the expression and interaction of p21-activated kinase (pAK)-4 and P54 protein in breast cancer.MethodsA total of 80 patients were enrolled in our study (breast fibroma n = 20, breast noninvasive cancer n = 20, early breast invasive cancer n = 20, and advanced breast invasive cancer). The expression of PAK4 was detected by immunohistochemical S-P method, and the relationship between them and the different pathological characteristics were compared. The subcellular localization of P54 and PAK4 in vitro was observed by immunofluorescence assay.ResultsThe expression of both PAK4 and P54 in breast cancer was much higher than that in breast fibroma. Meanwhile, we found that both PAK4 and P54 increased gradually as breast cancer progressed (advanced invasive > early invasive > noninvasive). The positive staining of P54 were mainly located in the cytoplasm, especially around the nucleus. There was no significant stained region in the cell matrix. The P54 localization in the cytoplasm was verified by confocal experiment, and the PAK4 was co-localized.ConclusionsPAK4 and P54 proteins may be used as molecular markers for diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

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Effects of ovarian cancer G-protein-coupled receptor 1 (OGR1) protein on proliferation and apoptosis of breast cancer cells, as well as its molecular mechanism were investigated. The MCF-7 cell line highly expressed OGR1 was constructed by transient transfection of eukaryotic expression vector using breast cancer cells. At the same time, cells were transfected with empty vector as controls. The effects of highly expressed OGR1 on cell growth, proliferation, apoptosis and other abilities were identified. In addition, the effects of highly expressed OGR1 on serine-threonine kinase (AKT), p53 and other genes were studied. It was proved in apoptosis experiment that highly expressed OGR1 protein in breast cancer cells could effectively increase the proportion of apoptosis of cells. Cell proliferation experiment revealed that the growth and proliferation abilities of breast cancer cells with highly expressed OGR1 were inhibited to some extent, compared with those of breast cancer cells with low expression of OGR1. Results of western blotting showed that the gene and protein expression levels of p53 in breast cancer cells with highly expressed OGR1 were increased. There was no significant difference in protein expression of AKT between breast cancer cells with low expression of OGR1 and those with highly expressed OGR1. However, the protein content of phosphorylated-AKT (p-AKT) in breast cancer cells with highly expressed OGR1 was lower than that in breast cancer cells with low expression of OGR1. The proliferation and apoptosis of breast cancer cells are influenced by the changes of OGR1 expression, which are correlated with the gene expression levels of AKT and p53 to some extent, but the detailed molecular mechanism requires additional study.