%0 Journal Article
%T GALNT6, GALNT14, and Gal-3 in association with GDF-15 promotes drug resistance and stemness of breast cancer via β-catenin axis.
%A Gadwal A
%A Purohit P
%A Khokhar M
%A Vishnoi JR
%A Pareek P
%A Choudhary R
%A Elhence P
%A Banerjee M
%A Sharma P
%J Growth Factors
%V 42
%N 2
%D 2024 05 18
%M 38889447
%F 2.394
%R 10.1080/08977194.2024.2368907
%X N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferases (GALNTs) are a polypeptide responsible for aberrant glycosylation in breast cancer (BC), but the mechanism is unclear. In this study, expression levels of GALNT6, GALNT14, and Gal-3 were assessed in BC, and their association with GDF-15, β-catenin, stemness (SOX2 and OCT4), and drug resistance marker (ABCC5) was evaluated. Gene expression of GALNT6, GALNT14, Gal-3, GDF-15, OCT4, SOX2, ABCC5, and β-catenin in tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues (n = 30) was determined. The same was compared with GEO-microarray datasets. A significant increase in the expression of candidate genes was observed in BC tumor compared to adjacent non-tumor tissue; and in pre-therapeutic patients compared to post-therapeutic. GALNT6, GALNT14, Gal-3, and GDF-15 showed positive association with β-catenin, SOX2, OCT4, and ABCC5 and were significantly associated with poor Overall Survival. Our findings were also validated via in silico analysis. Our study suggests that GALNT6, GALNT14, and Gal-3 in association with GDF-15 promote stemness and intrinsic drug resistance in BC, possibly by β-catenin signaling pathway.