Expression and clinical diagnostic value of CCHE1 in breast cancer.

Objective: Breast cancer is a malignant tumor in the epithelial tissue of the breast gland. This study aimed to unveil the expression and clinical diagnostic value of lncRNA cervical cancer high-expressed 1 (CCHE1) in breast cancer.

Methods: CCHE1 expression in breast cancer tissues was evaluated by RT-qPCR. The relationship between the CCHE1 expression and clinicopathological features of breast cancer was analyzed with the chi-square test, and the survival of breast cancer patients was evaluated with the Kaplan-Meier method. The diagnostic value of CCHE1 expression for breast cancer was evaluated by using the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve. Breast cancer cell lines (SKBR3, T47D, BT474, and MCF-7) were cultured for detecting CCHE1 expression in the cells. MCF-7 cells were selected for the subsequent experiments, and the small interfering RNA of CCHE1 (si-CCHE1) and CCHE1 overexpression vector (pcDNA-CCHE1) were transfected into MCF-7 cells. The proliferation, migration, and invasive ability were assessed by CCK-8 and Transwell assays. The influence of CCHE1 on the growth of tumors was validated by nude mice xenograft assay.

Results: CCHE1 was up-regulated in breast cancer tissues and breast cancer cells. The high expression level of CCHE1 in cancer tissues of breast cancer patients was correlated with larger tumor size, advanced TNM stage, Ki-67 status, and lymph node metastasis. The area under the ROC curve for CCHE1 in the diagnosis of breast cancer was 0.983 (95% CI: 0.966-1.000), with a sensitivity of 95.00% and a specificity of 91.70%. The 5-year survival rate was higher in patients with low CCHE1 expression than those with high CCHE1 expression. Furthermore, restrained CCHE1 impeded proliferation, invasion, and migration of MCF-7 cells, as well as tumor growth in mice.

Conclusion: Our study highlights that elevated expression of CCHE1 in breast cancer tissues, which is closely related to clinicopathologic features, has some clinical value in the diagnosis of the disease.