Poster Presentation 35th Lorne Cancer Conference 2023

Investigating NDRG1 as a candidate biomarker in Breast cancer Brain Metastasis   (#201)

Vaibhavi Joshi 1
  1. UQCCR, Brisbane, QUEENSLAND, Australia

Brain metastases (BrM) are a group of tumours of the central nervous system (CNS) which are established after a primary tumour has spread to the brain. Clinically, BrMs are defined by their aggressive nature, heterogeneity, and poor prognosis, and their location presents a major barrier for treatment and management of the disease. Amongst the different primary tumours, breast cancer (BC) is the second most common behind lung, and the most common primary tumour in women with a propensity to metastasise to the brain. Current treatment limitations include the lack of both biomarkers for early detection and specific targeted therapies for BrM. N-myc downregulated gene -1 (NDRG1) is a potential biomarker of BC-BrM. NDRG1 has been variably reported as a metastasis suppressor, a biomarker of poor outcome, and a facilitator of disease progression in a range of different cancers. NDRG1 is poorly characterised in cancer due to its context dependent, pleiotropic role. Within BC, studies have reported NDRG1 to be either a facilitator of, or an inhibitor of tumour progression and metastasis. Interestingly the subcellular expression of NDRG1 has been linked to its function as well as its role as a biomarker in different cancers. We performed an in-depth clinico-pathological analysis of NDRG1 in BC and matched BC-BrM patients. Interestingly, NDRG1 expression was found to be significantly higher in BrMs as compared to their matched primary BC tumours suggesting a potential shift in its function in BrMs. Additionally, cytoplasmic expression of NDRG1 was seen to be associated with improved survival in BC patients. We show NDRG1 to be an interesting candidate marker in BC-BrM with the potential to be used in prognostication.