ANGPTL4 mRNA expressions and serum levels were significantly higher in high grade breast carcinoma (1.47±0.31 and 184.98±18.18, respectively) compared to low grade carcinoma (1.21±0.32 and 171.76±7.58, respectively) and controls (0.70±0.02 and 65.34±6.41, respectively), (p<0.05).
Since the TGFβ target ANGPTL4 plays a key role in lung metastasis development, we performed a meta-analysis of ANGPTL4 expression relative to WWOX in microarray datasets from breast carcinomas.
Recently, HIFs have been shown to play critical roles in the metastasis of breast cancer to the lungs through the transcriptional activation of genes encoding angiopoietin-like 4 and L1 cell adhesion molecule, which promote the extravasation of circulating cancer cells from the lung vasculature, and the lysyl oxidase family members LOX, LOXL2, and LOXL4, which promote invasion and metastatic niche formation.