High stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 expression is associated with shorter survival in breast cancer patients

Abstract

Stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1) is an essential regulator of fatty acid synthesis. We have previously shown that overexpression of SCD1 increases the growth of breast cancer cell lines. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between SCD1 expression level and clinical-pathologic characteristics and survival of patients with breast cancer. Fine-needle aspirates were collected from the primary tumors of 250 patients with stage I–III breast cancer. Demographic and clinical characteristics including patient age, ethnicity, and menopausal status and tumor clinical stage, grade, and subtype were reviewed. SCD1 expression was analyzed using reverse-phase protein arrays. Samples were divided into high or low SCD1 expression levels based on a cut-off determined from martingale residual plots and regression tree analysis. SCD1 levels were significantly higher in tumors from patients >50 years old compared to patients ≤50 years old and were lower in triple-negative (estrogen/progesterone receptor-negative and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2-negative) breast cancers than other tumor subtypes. After adjusting for patient age, tumor subtype, tumor grade, and clinical stage, we found that patients with primary breast cancers expressing high SCD1 levels had significantly shorter relapse-free survival (RFS) (P = 0.014) and overall survival (OS) (P = 0.039) in multivariable analysis. We conclude that SCD1 expression varies by breast cancer subtype and that high levels of SCD1 expression are associated with significantly shorter RFS and OS in multivariable analysis. Future studies are needed to define the role of SCD1 in the malignant phenotype of breast cancer and to evaluate the potential for SCD1 as a therapeutic target.

SCD1 negatively regulates autophagy-induced cell death in human hepatocellular carcinoma through inactivation of the AMPK signaling pathway

“…In our study, we demonstrated a marked increase in SCD1 expression in HCC and that this increase is significantly correlated with shorter overall survival in HCC patients, regardless of tumor stage and liver function, which is in agreement with the results of a recent study in breast cancer [10]. Nevertheless, the reason underlying the association of increased SCD1 expression with poor prognosis of patients with HCC remains to be clarified.…”

“…A previous study showed that SCD1 acts as a novel key regulator in the mechanisms of tumor cell growth and malignant transformation in both human and rodents [6]. For example, human SCD1 has been found to exhibit increased expression in various human cancers, including breast, prostate, colon, esophageal and ovarian cancers [7; 8; 9], and high SCD1 expression has been linked to a significantly shorter survival of patients with breast cancer [10]. In addition, the silencing or inhibition of SCD1 expression suppresses cell growth and induces apoptosis in breast, prostate and colon cancer cells [8; 11; 12].…”

High Expression of Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase 1 Predicts Poor Prognosis in Patients with Clear-Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

“…Similar to our study, Holder et al suggested that high levels of SCD1 expression are associated with significantly shorter RFS and OS in breast cancer. Furthermore, they showed that SCD1 expression varies by breast cancer subtype [14]. Huang et al reported that the pathological stage in patients with lung adenocarcinoma was associated with the SCD1 mutation, which is associated with poor prognosis.…”

“…Overexpression of SCD1 had been reported in many malignant cells, and upregulated levels of SCD1 activity have also been associated with the change of certain aspects of tumor cell behavior, such as tumor cell growth and proliferation [12, 13]. Furthermore, the prognostic significance of SCD1 expression was also revealed in many cancers, such as breast cancer, lung adenocarcinoma, colon cancer and soft tissue sarcomas, which showed that high expression of SCD1 was related to a poor outcome for patients with cancers[14–17]. Recent studies had also reported that SCD1 might be a novel molecular therapeutic target for ccRCC[18, 19].…”

SCD (stearoyl-CoA desaturase (delta-9-desaturase))

“…Over-expression of SCD1 is associated with enhanced growth rate of breast cancer cell lines and shorter overall survival and relapse-free survival (RFS) in breast cancer patients (Holder et al, 2013). Furthermore, it is demonstrated that high desaturation index has a negative correlation with the risk of breast cancer (Chajs et al, 1999).…”