Upregulation of HOTAIR Transcript Level in Tumor Tissue of Iranian Women with Breast Cancer

Dysregulation of HOX Transcript Antisense Intergenic RNA (HOTAIR) has been linked to the etiopathogenesis of several human cancers. According to epidemiological evidences, the risk of susceptibility to breast cancer varies among different populations. This study was designed to determine the transcriptional level of HOTAIR in tumor cells of breast cancer patients compared to normal marginal cells and to identify if this molecule has the potential to be considered as a biomarker in the prognosis of breast cancer. A total of 37 patients with breast cancer were recruited. Tumor and matched normal tumor-free margin samples were collected during surgery from each patient. Following total RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis, quantitative analysis was performed by real-time PCR using the SYBR Green PCR Master Mix to determine the transcript level of HOTAIR in samples. It was observed that mRNA expression level of HOTAIR was upregulated in tumor cells compared with normal tumor free marginal cells of breast cancer patients (Fold change= +6.9; P = 0.0001). However, no statistically significant correlations were observed between the mRNA expression level of HOTAIR and clinicopathological manifestations of the patients. The results were in accord with what had previously been reported and therefore, it can be concluded that in Iranian population, too, HOTAIR is upregulated in tumor cells of breast cancer patients and has the potential to be considered as a biomarker for the prognosis of breast cancer.