A-Kinase anchor protein 4 (AKAP4) may be considered as a potential early diagnostic breast cancer marker detectable in blood

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer-related death in women worldwide. Early diagnosis via cancer screening biomarkers has a major impact on improving clinical outcomes and overall survival leads to better cancer management. Herein, we examined the expression of A-Kinase Anchor Protein 4 (AKAP4) as a Cancer Testis Antigen (CTA) in breast cancer tumors and traced it in the peripheral blood as a possible diagnostic breast cancer marker. To evaluate the expression of AKAP4 gene nested real-time RT-PCR method with SYBR green dye were used in the peripheral blood and breast tissues of 80 breast cancer patients in comparison with normal controls. The data revealed that the existence of AKAP4 gene expression in all the stages of breast cancer in tumor tissues and its subsequent detection in peripheral blood could be regarded as a possible biomarker for breast cancer diagnosis even at the early stages. The AKAP4 expression was detected somewhat in the normal margin of the tumor compared with normal breast tissue with no AKAP4 expression which indicates the bystander effect. The peripheral blood AKAP4 expression was significantly higher in stage IV, nodal involvement, and distant metastasis. AKAP4 gene expression analysis in blood could be regarded as a possible early diagnostic biomarker in breast cancer that is an indispensable requirement for better management of cancer. •The AKAP4 expression was evaluated in breast tumors and traced in peripheral blood to find the possible early detection biomarker detectable in blood.•The higher AKAP4 RNA expression was significantly related to some malignant indicators such as lymph node involvement, metastasis, and higher cancer stages.•AKAP4 expression was observed in all the stages of breast cancer, which were stages I to IV in both breast tumor and peripheral blood.•AKAP4 may be proposed as a possible diagnostic marker for further analysis to confirm.